TOSSING COVID RULES aside and caution to the wind does not earn much punishment for businesses in Massachusetts.
In Boston, officials are still regularly chastising restaurants for violating COVID protocols — but had only suspended four and fined three as of a few weeks ago, following over 1,850 complaints. An indefinite license suspension for Causeway Boston by TD Garden ended up lasting 16 days. Three other suspensions lasted for a day each, for disregarding capacity requirements, staying open too late, and, in one instance, hosting a forbidden karaoke night.
On two of the warmer evenings this week, you could see a lot of diners not wearing masks without a meal or drink in front of them, especially in the North End and Back Bay, where people lingered outside waiting maskless for seating. Diners must still only remove face coverings when drinking or eating, according to guidelines.
While over 90 percent of restaurants statewide are reported to be in compliance with COVID guidelines, there are still complaints of maskless strippers, crowded bars, and people drinking with no food service—some of the violations state inspectors have found during the pandemic.
In what seems like a glaring mixed message, the Baker administration handed out $1.4 million in state pandemic-relief grants to 23 businesses that had been slapped with license suspensions by the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
“I think coronavirus is a bunch of [expletive]. I thought we were past all of this,” Nick Akoury, owner of K C’s Pub and Grill in Weymouth, told investigators, according to the Globe. “No government is going to tell me how to run my business.” This was after state inspectors found staff not wearing masks, people seated at the bar despite that being banned, and customers ordering alcohol without food.
Despite his harsh words for government oversight, Akoury accepted a $70,000 grant from the state soon after.
The Mardi Gras strip club in Springfield was found to have maskless dancers during a raid last year, and later got a grant of $75,000.
This comes as thousands more businesses — most presumably observing COVID protocol rules — wait for aid to be dispensed from the $668 million total funding available for relief. State Sen. Eric Lesser of Longmeadow said businesses that can’t follow the rules need to go to the back of the line.
The state recently transitioned to the second step of Phase 3 of its reopening plan, with capacity limits removed for restaurants, but rules on social distancing, a maximum of six people at each table, and 90-minute limits on eating times remaining in place.
It will be interesting to see if restaurants continue strict enforcement of COVID rules as spring approaches, especially as they pine for customers to fill their tables and ease their financial burdens.