Local leaders fear a further increase in coronavirus cases during a masked party in Houston, which is being offered early Wednesday to lift Texas to lift the Covid-19 mandates.
The Concrete Cowboy says customers should come to their bar at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for a “mask off,” full of bottles of Veuve and Gray Goose, for $ 100 and $ 150, respectively, said Mayor Sylvester Turner and State Representative Ann Johnson. .
Lawmakers released an image of an advertisement for the party that was apparently posted on an Instagram story. But such posts disappear after 24 hours and by Monday morning there were no signs of the kite on the club’s website, Facebook and Instagram.
Turner and Johnson said such celebrations would lead to an increase in Covid cases, and they called on Concrete Cowboy to stop the party.
“We are not the dumping ground for events that will endanger Texans and cause people to lose,” Turner told reporters Sunday.
A representative of the Concrete Cowboy could not be immediately reached for comment.
“This is a dangerous, irresponsible event that is literally a slap in the face to our health workers who are risking their lives, the family members who have lost loved ones, and all the Houston residents who honor the sanctity of life.” too expensive a cocktail, ”Johnson said.
“I applaud the responsible bar owners who are using this moment and doing it right.”
Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week that State Lone Star would be completely open to business, with no state laws requiring masks.
His executive order appears to enable high-tax local jurisdictions to impose mask mandates – but prevent them from using fines or jail time to enforce them.
A spokesman for Mayor Turner told NBC News on Monday that city attorneys are still reviewing Abbott’s order to determine what, if any, power local governments may still have to enforce Covid protocols.
More than 527,000 Americans died of Covid-19 on Monday morning, according to the NBC News report.
Texas, the second most populous state in the union, has lost more than 45,000 lives to the virus, which is a rate of 157 per 100,000 inhabitants. The state’s population, California, has lost more than any other jurisdiction – about 54,000, a rate of 137 per 100,000.
And more than 14 percent of Covid-19 tests are currently returning positive in Texas, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Only five states and Puerto Rico have higher rates.
