SAN ANTONIO — For the first time since mid-September, and in the middle of a relatively lightweight but still busy holiday season, San Antonio-area businesses will have to reduce their maximum operating capacity to 50%.
The move comes as shop and restaurant owners continue to navigate murky financial waters in an attempt to withstand the ongoing coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout. Many told KENS 5 just last week that they were dreading a similar development that would curtail business, although in the form of a Christmas curfew.
Instead, restaurants and other non-exempt businesses will be forced to reduce their cap on capacity from 75% to half – starting on Tuesday – due to a stipulation in Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order issued on Sept. 17. In it, the governor mandated that if a community's number of COVID-19-affected hospital patients amounts to more than 15% of all hospitalizations in the area for seven straight days, business capacity must be cut to 50%.
San Antonio reached that bar of seven straight days on Monday, as the coronavirus continues to ravage the community. Over the weekend, Mayor Ron Nirenberg warned in a social media post that the city was close to doing so.
Operating capacity limits must remain at 50% until the number of coronavirus hospitalizations is less than 15% of total hospitalizations for seven straight days. Affected businesses also include, gyms, retail stores, amusement parks, water parks, swimming pools, museums, libraries, zoos and aquariums. Bars, meanwhile, will remain closed.
Exempt entities including faith services, government bodies, child-care services, youth camps, drive-in cinemas, and nail salons, cosmetology establishments and barber shops that practice social distancing.