Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has been feeling some heat this week after his comments regarding possible timelines for bars reopening in the City of Orlando. We inquired directly to Mayor Dyer’s team to set the record straight. This is what they had to say:
“The worldwide pandemic has created challenges for every single person in our community and certainly our local businesses have been some of the most impacted, especially bars who must remain closed under the State of Florida executive order.
As a City we want to do everything we can to support our local businesses to allow them to open and operate safely. We also understand that bars may have one of the most difficult challenges to operate during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
While we believe that having a vaccine would allow for businesses to get back to operating, we do not anticipate that that will happen in the near future.
At this time, we continue to be supportive of the state to put in place clear guidelines and procedures that allow for the safe reopening of bars to be able to operate during these unique times.”
In follow up interviews, Mayor Dyer has been clear that the closing of bars and restaurant capacity limitations have been set directly by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Secretary Halsey Beshears, the head of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
To sum it up, looks like our favorite watering holes will be closed for the foreseeable future.