FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF)- Governor Greg Abbott gave county judges, in counties with a hospitalization rate of 15% or less, the ability to reopen bars to 50% capacity starting Wednesday.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said it was time to reopen from Coronavirus restrictions. Collin County and Denton County also decided they would let bars open to more people. However, Dallas County opted to hold off for now.
At Fort Worth’s vibrant West 7th St. bar district, many bar owners were excited about the news. However, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price was adamant that health requirements will be enforced.
“We are excited but we are unsure on how long it’s going to last… We are operating now with a restaurant permit but we’ll switch it back once they’re certain for more of a permanent open,” said one Fort Worth bar manager. “The one good thing though is that since we started operating as a restaurant about two weeks ago we have seen a lot of new people coming in which has been nice. However we are ready to get back to normal,” she said.
Perry Tong, Owner of Pop’s Safari Cigars and Fine Wine said he’s glad to see the bars back open because they bring traffic to the area. 
“I’d like to see it open at 100% but I’ll except 50% for the time being. Hopefully we can get to 75% really quick,” he said. “Most of our customers are doing their part, wearing a mask and social distancing,” he said.
Tong says it’s been quieter in the area, but it’s slowly starting to pick back up.
“We were hurting,” said Tong. “We were told about the 25% capacity and on the same day we got a notice that our property rate was going to double..so at a time we needed that to decrease it was increasing. So that hurt us a bit,” he said.
Bar and restaurant staff WBAP/KLIF spoke to in the Fort Worth area did agree it was time to allow in more people but they want to continue to make sure it’s safe and follow the health guidelines.