Big Story: Baton Rouge’s COVID-19 quandary

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ALL FOR ONE: While many area restaurants and bars are following rules aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, numerous others are not, prompting Mayor Sharon Weston Broome to threaten tighter restrictions.

THE BIG STORY

ISTOCK

Baton Rouge’s COVID-19 quandary

1 BIG THING: Numerous local businesses—especially bars and restaurants—are turning a blind eye to COVID-19 restrictions, with some going so far as to host large, maskless events that were posted on social media. It has raised the ire of Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, who has already threatened to bring Baton Rouge back to phase one rules if the community’s behavior doesn’t improve.

WHY IT MATTERS: East Baton Rouge Parish is currently experiencing a dangerous post-holiday season spike, averaging 156 new cases daily. In an effort to slow the spread of the virus, state and local officials have implored businesses to follow existing guidelines, but have found little success in doing so.

What’s clear from social media is that, while some businesses are following the restrictions, other bars and restaurants are either ignoring them or aren’t willing to demand that customers abide by them. Moreover, it seems they aren’t facing any real consequences for their actions.

• Since the pandemic began, the Baton Rouge Police Department has responded to 8,000 phone calls about noncompliant businesses. • However, the Louisiana state fire marshal and the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, which have conducted hundreds of “compliance visits” in recent months, found that only 10% to 11% of their visits yield compliance recommendations. • In response to a recent series of venues hosting large gatherings and violating coronavirus restrictions, Broome wrote a social media post saying, “I’m disappointed any business would put the lives of their patrons, staff and community in such danger.”

At the same time, local businesses that are following the current phase two rules—especially those that have seen their noncompliant competitors get away with breaking the rules— are growing increasingly frustrated with the way they’ve been treated by the city throughout the pandemic. Now, facing the possibility of going back a phase, some are weighing whether to let larger parties inside or enforce mask-wearing among willing patrons.

THE BIG QUESTION: Given the amount of noncompliance throughout the city, at what point does Broome actually return to some modified level of phase one guidelines?

WHAT’S NEXT: The mayor is continuing to work with the ATC, the state fire marshal and BRPD to enforce compliance among Baton Rouge businesses, but declines to suggest a timeline or threshold for if and when she might revert to phase one.

“As I stated in mid-January, we are taking compliance very seriously and I will tighten restrictions if our trajectory does not change,” Broome says in a prepared statement. “With that being said, we will continue our intensified enforcement efforts, monitor the data, consult our medical community, work to secure increased vaccine supply and encourage immunizations before returning Baton Rouge to some modified form of Phase I.”

THE BIG PICTURE: Broome is walking a delicate tightrope, as the move would almost certainly have a devastating impact on already struggling businesses.

• Bars and restaurants have

been among the hardest-hit

by the pandemic, and a strict enforcement of the phase one rules—which include 25% capacity limits indoors—could lead many to close their doors for good, crippling the local economy. • Further complicating matters is the politicization of the

pandemic within the business

community, despite the recent COVID-related deaths of community figures like John Graves and former state Rep. Steve Carter. • The cost of not going back to phase one, however, could mean more cases, hospitalizations and lives lost to a virus that’s already responsible for the deaths of more than 650 East Baton Rouge residents.