With bars going into a forced five day shutdown to head off a suspected spike in COVID-19 numbers, one man stands between the hordes of would-be-partiers and compliance with the rules: The State Fire Marshal.
“The inside of a stand-alone bar is not allowed to be open in the phase we’re in,” Marshal Butch Browning replies to WWL when asked about bars being open. “We’re going to be working with our local officials to continue our COVID courtesy visits which we have yielded tremendous compliance and helped stop the spread and ultimately saved people’s lives.”
Browning and his inspectors are ready to keep their eyes trained on bars in the parishes surrounding New Orleans to ensure the establishments are following capacity and social distancing rules.
“A bar that operates with a general-permit from Alcohol and Tobacco Control, can only be open outside consumption in a properly social distanced area, not to exceed 50-people.”
Browning is fairly certain bars will be in compliance, but that doesn’t mean they’re resting on their laurels.
“At this point we’re concerned, but we don’t have any direct information,” Browning says. “We don’t think it’s going to be a widespread problem, but we are going to have a local presence and we are going to work with local officials to shepherd people in the right direction.”
Browning is very serious about his duty and that of his inspectors in holding down COVID-19 numbers so there can be a Mardi Gras in 2022.
“We have to get past Mardi Gras and don’t see the same spread or epidemic proportions that one would say we experienced last Mardi Gras,” Browning states. “But it's real simple, it’s about social distancing, keeping your space, keeping your family in the unit. It’s about wearing a mask, when you’re around people, or public, or in a building and it’s about hand washing.”
