People eager to support bars opening up in Williamson County

Wednesday marks the day people In the county can once wet their whistles at their favorite bar, as they are now allowed to open once again at 50% capacity.

CEDAR PARK, Texas - Many bars in Williamson County are now back open.

Wednesday marks the day people In the county can once wet their whistles at their favorite bar, as they are now allowed to open once again at 50% capacity.

“I think it’s been a long time coming for these places to reopen,” said county resident Brenda Oberembt. “I think it’s amazing. People need to get back to work, businesses need to get going, and people need to get out again and live."

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Abbott says bars can reopen October 14 if county judges opt in

Abbott said he will allow bars to reopen at 50 percent occupancy in counties where COVID-19 hospitalizations make up less than 15 percent of hospital capacity. However, he won’t make the call on where to open bars himself. 

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Residents in the county aren’t the only ones happy about the reopening. Employees at establishments like the Cedar Park Pub are ready to finally get back to work after the place was closed back in March.

“It feels pretty good, honestly myself I’m kind of tired of drinking at home. You try to have people come over and mingle but everyone is so afraid of the virus but now that we have a safe environment to do that it feels really good,” said doorman Travis Velazquez.

Travis County opts out of reopening bars

A map created by TABC shows how Travis County is an opt-out island and is the only county in the Austin metro area not allowing bars to reopen. 

Patrons should expect some changes when heading to their favorite watering hole. At the Cedar Park Pub for example Velazquez now checks temperatures, not just IDs.

“I do need to make sure they are sanitized, have a mask and then I’ll ask them a couple questions like if they have fatigue, fever, cough, and if they have them, I will send them in their way,” said Velazquez.

They are hoping the extra sanitizing steps will help prevent and potential spread of COVID-19 and in turn make sure bars can stay open in the future.

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