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San Antonio begins buzzing back to life as dine-in returns, shops reopen

The city's mayor emphasizes, however, that the threat of coronavirus has still not subsided.

SAN ANTONIO — On Friday, many of the city's hotspots were slowly buzzing with the sound of business as shops, indoor malls, theaters and restaurant dining rooms were allowed to resume partial operations in Texas. Restaurants in particular are serving a limited number of dine-in customers for the first time in weeks, after being limited to curbside delivery and take-out. 

Meanwhile, the typically-bustling San Antonio River Walk still largely resembled the lonely and empty place it's looked like for the past month. A few eateries were open Friday, but the lights were off at a majority of them.

Three restaurants at The Pearl, including La Gloria, welcomed back customers. People were waiting to grab a table as locations maintained a strict a 25% occupancy limit, per the state's orders.  

"I also feel there is a lot of people that want to go out to dinner and enjoy the restaurants," La Gloria Chef Johnny Hernandez said. "The vibe has been a lot of great energy, a lot of smiling faces, a lot of happy people."

Hernandez said the new normal is having to train his staff on innovative safety practices. His employees are wearings masks and gloves, and are also getting their temperature checked. The chef brought around 40 employees back to work at the end of the week. 

Mayor Ron Nirenberg, for his part, said he was content with what he saw Friday in San Antonio.

"The small business community in San Antonio understands very well that, in order for us to get started again, people have to feel comfortable going out," he said at a Friday evening briefing. "They have been listening to the health guidance, and they know what works."

However, the mayor also had a warning for those thinking about leaving their homes to go to a public setting without a mask. 

"All it takes is one incident to cause an outbreak, and all of a sudden we are going backward, he said. "We don't want that to happen."

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