Never miss a story
Sign up for our free daily morning email...
...and afternoon text update
×
austonia newsletter
Get connected with our daily update
Most viewed
Update: Eateries that sell more alcohol than food can still offer food and mixed drinks to go
01 July 2020
(Christin Rowan)
A spokesman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said Wednesday evening that establishments that have permanent kitchen facilities but make more revenue off alcohol than food may not be open for dine-in service, but are allowed to offer to-go alcohol with food orders.
A story posted in this spot earlier quoted Chris Porter, PIO for the TABC, as saying that these businesses—which included hundreds of eateries across Texas, including many in Austin—were supposed to be closed alongside bars that were shuttered by Gov. Greg Abbott's Friday order.
In our original story, Porter said executive orders throughout the pandemic "have defined bars as businesses, regardless of food preparation, which generate more than 51% from alcohol sales. With this latest executive order, those locations are required to remain closed."
Shortly after the story was posted, Porter retracted his statement in an email to Austonia, saying he "mistakenly gave you the wrong information."
He confirmed in his Wednesday evening email that dining establishments with food service that make 51% or more of their revenue off alcohol are still considered bars and must close their dining areas, he said, but may remain open on a to-go only basis.
"Bars which have a permanent kitchen facility cannot allow customers for dine-in service, but may offer alcohol to-go with food orders," Porter said in an email to Austonia late Wednesday.
Abbott's order closed bars but allowed mixed drinks to be sold with to-go food orders from restaurants for the first time in modern Texas history.
A press statement released by the Abbott's office on Friday states that "bars and similar establishments that receive more than 51% of their gross receipts from the sale of alcoholic beverages are required to close at 12:00 PM today," but that, "these businesses may remain open for delivery and take-out, including for alcoholic beverages, as authorized by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission."
On Saturday, the day after the order, the TABC released guidelines covering the new alcohol-to-go allowances.
From Your Site Articles
- Governor OKs cocktails-to-go as bars face second shutdown ... ›
- Governor announces next phase of reopening, expanding capacity ... ›
- A lifeline for some, a burden for others: To-go alcohol sales get ... ›
- Abbott closes Texas bars, tubing, reduces restaurants capacity ... ›
- Large crowds, record business for some bars, parks and ... ›
- 3 Austin bars get permit suspensions for violating COVID-19 rules ... ›
- The Bazaar will shut down Austin location after 50-plus years - austonia ›
- Travis County judge says bars must remained closed amid COVID - austonia ›
- map of Austin bars converted to restaurants to reopen - austonia ›
- Austin restaurants worry about new capacity recommendations - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
- Gov. Abbott closing bars, tubing businesses, rolls back restaurant ... ›
- TABC suspends alcohol licenses at 4 Austin bars due to COVID-19 ... ›
- Coronavirus in Austin: Bar owners protest governor's orders | kvue ... ›
- Austin Bars That Have Reopened in Texas During Coronavirus ... ›
- More Austin Bars Close Briefly Because of Staffers With COVID-19 ... ›
Popular
(Project Connect)
Project Connect is starting to take shape, Capitol Metro announced, and officially beginning with the scoping phase that includes an environmental report set to go on from now to 2022.
<p>Although that may seem like a long process, the Project Connect, a complete overhaul of the city's public transit system, is starting a timeline of 13 years before it is complete. Capitol Metro representatives met Monday to discuss the future of the orange line, that is expected to be complete in nine year. </p><p><span></span>The orange line will connect North and South Austin, starting at Tech Ridge, with 22 stops along the way until it hits Slaughter Lane. There will be service every 10-15 minutes, according to officials.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-height="898" data-rm-shortcode-id="ad2c8ff862a0d910ecdb8acfb6335ab7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUzMzkxOC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjQ2Nzg0NX0.Ygxo0qUUQRlIyqDnbW3I65mT2xphZHjDDEgdaNxj-98/img.png?width=980" data-width="1600" id="6d394" type="lazy-image"/>
</p><p>The orange line is expected to be complete in nine years.<br/></p><p>Before the project moves any further, an environmental impact statement must be developed. The EIS is part of the National Environmental Policy Act and is a crucial step to beginning new developments because it scopes the surrounding area and helps engineer better ways for the project to fit into the community.</p><p>As part of the scoping period, AECOM's Orange Line project manager Jerry Smiley said they will be asking for public feedback regularly for the next several years. </p><p>Since construction of the new lines will begin at different times, some lines may be done before then, like the red line, which starts construction of two new stops and a second track this year.</p>
From Your Site Articles
Keep Reading
Show less
Want to know more about our city? Join Austonia and two special guests for our first 'live event'
21 January
Register here...
<p><br/></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><br/></div><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe frameborder="0" height="875" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTxhTe3hw9SxDCLBOW3qNKg-VIUWzisXpgGmRMQy9nmbdKtg/viewform?embedded=true" width="640">Loading…</iframe></div>
Keep Reading
Show less
(Emma Freer)
Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who represents District 2 in Southeast Austin, and Travis County Judge Andy Brown tour the Austin Region Infusion Center earlier this month.
The COVID-19 therapeutic infusion center in South Austin is expanding.
The pop-up center opened outside of the Montopolis CommUnity Care location on Jan. 6 with nine infusion chairs and monoclonal antibody treatments donated by area hospitals. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that the center will now offer 33 infusion chairs, thanks to additional support provided by the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
<p>"These treatments are essential in our fight to keep hospitalizations down and save lives," Abbott said in a statement. </p><p>The <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-covid-antibodies" target="_blank">intravenous treatments</a> are administered to high-risk COVID-19 patients in the early stage of the disease in an effort to help neutralize the virus and prevent hospitalization. Patients must be referred by area physicians or contacted by Austin Public Health and CommUnity Care after receiving a positive test result at one of their sites. </p><p>Austin's three hospital systems—Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White Health and St. David's HealthCare—are referring eligible patients to the infusion center, according to a joint statement issued on Monday. </p><p>Since opening, the center has treated 279 patients, most of whom are 65 years of age or older, at a rate of around 26 per day. Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said Friday that the goal is to increase the daily capacity to as many as 75 patients.</p><p>The Montopolis center is administering the monoclonal antibody treatment Regeneron, one of two such medications that have received emergency use authorizations from the FDA. The other—from the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly—is also administered via IV. The entire treatment process takes about two-and-a-half hours, with an hour-long infusion plus time to check-in and monitoring afterward.</p><p>With wider treatment, the Austin area may start to see a meaningful reduction in the number of patients hospitalized with COVID. "You have to treat about 10 people to prevent one hospitalization," said Dr. Jack Bissett, an infectious disease specialist affiliated with Ascension Seton.</p><p>Although the moving average number of daily COVID hospital admissions in the Austin metro has fallen over the last two weeks, it remains squarely in the Stage 5 risk category—the highest according to Austin Public Health's risk-based guidelines. There are currently 26 low- and moderate-acuity COVID patients being treated at the alternate care site downtown, which is intended to relieve pressure on hospital ICUs.</p><p>Preliminary study data reveals that monoclonal antibody treatments are most effective in the few days after COVID symptoms present themselves, so experts recommend that patients seek out testing and medical care early, which could lead to referral. </p><p>"If you belong to a high-risk category, don't waste time," said Dr. Mezgebe Berhe, an infectious disease specialist and the principal investigator for a Regeneron trial conducted by Baylor Scott & White Research Institute.<br/></p>
From Your Site Articles
- We Are Blood requests funding for convalescent plasma program ... ›
- Antibody tests show up in Austin, but not all are FDA approved ... ›
- Plasma may help COVID-19, Austin doctors say as they join national ... ›
- Austin opens COVID monoclonal antibodies infusion center - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep Reading
Show less
