County moves to ease bar and club curfew after weekend of defiant after-hours revelry
Following a weekend of defiant late-night and early morning revelry across the Wichita area, Sedgwick County commissioners moved Wednesday toward easing an 11 p.m. curfew placed on bars and nightclubs to fight the spread of COVID-19.
The commission voted unanimously to recommend to County Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns that he move the curfew to midnight for bars, clubs and restaurants that serve alcohol.
The curfew was originally set at midnight in July for restaurants serving alcohol. Minns moved it to 11 p.m. in mid-August when he also lifted an order that had closed bars and nightclubs entirely.
The commission request for a return to the midnight curfew comes days after numerous bars and clubs, including some of the Wichita area’s largest and most popular nightspots, simply ignored Minns’ public health order and stayed open, in most cases until their regular closing time of 2 a.m.
Minns could not be reached for comment Wednesday on whether he intends to relax the curfew. Two days ago, Minns strengthened the county’s order in response to bars and nightclubs openly defying it.
On Monday, he made his order mandatory under threat of a civil penalty or injunction. It previously relied mostly on voluntary compliance, although businesses violating it did face the prospect of losing state protection from lawsuits if people caught the coronavirus at their business.
In addition to the 11 p.m. curfew, Minns’ order mandated social distancing and face coverings in most public places, and limited bars to 50% of regular occupancy.
Over the weekend, bars and clubs throughout the Wichita area stayed open past curfew, above 50 percent capacity and with virtually no social distancing or masks.
It’s unclear what level of violation would trigger enforcement by the county, which commissioners have regularly expressed reluctance to do.
The city of Wichita has been the only local government agency in Sedgwick County to enforce public health restrictions, issuing citations for violations of the city’s mask ordinance at bars that were open past 11 p.m. In Wichita’s case, it issued four tickets carrying a penalty of $25 each.
The motion asking Minns to ease off the curfew was made by Commissioner Michael O’Donnell, who cited a statistic that the rate of positive COVID-19 tests in the county has dipped below 6 percent.
“Something’s working, it’s a combination of stuff, social distancing, hand washing, some curfews, capacity issues, masks,” O’Donnell said. “There’s no one thing that’s causing this to work, but I think we all have the same goal — and that’s to get businesses open and to get schools back fully operational and get kids in the classroom full-time.”
Commissioner Jim Howell asked O’Donnell why he was posing the motion as a request to Minns when the commission has authority under state law to override his orders.
O’Donnell said he wasn’t willing to pull that trigger yet, although he said he would seek to overturn Minns on the curfew if he doesn’t change it.
“This is still Dr. Minns’ order, commissioner Howell,” O’Donnell said. “He knows a lot more about epidemiology and these issues than I do. . . . We have to make sure there’s not a big spike. We’re not even two weeks out from Labor Day.”
Adding more teeth to the county’s order, Commissioner Lacey Cruse moved to tie financial support from the county to compliance with its public health measures.
By a 4-1 vote, commissioners changed the county’s eligibility requirements for its CARES Act small business grants to state that companies must follow the county’s health orders to receive stimulus money. Howell was the lone dissenting vote, saying the verification process could stall getting money to businesses that are struggling.
“I guess I just have kind of some concerns around giving funds that are designed to combat the coronavirus to those who are violating orders designed to combat coronavirus,” Cruse said.
Bar owners strapped for cash
Several bar and club owners addressed the commission, explaining how badly the pandemic has hurt their businesses and asking the county to restore their normal hours of operation, allowing them to remain open until 2 a.m.
Michelle Borin, owner of Michelle’s Beach House, a topless exotic dance club in Derby, said the curfew hurts her business because people don’t come out to start partying until right around the time the curfew starts.
“I cannot stress enough that we cannot survive by closing at 11 p.m. It just doesn’t make sense. My business is down 80 percent and the bills are still there,” Borin said.
Borin said she is losing employees who are seeking work elsewhere and losing clientele because of the curfew.
“I do appreciate anything at this time for it to be extended,” she said to O’Donnell after he asked whether the midnight curfew would help.
Kyle Okumura, owner of Revolution Lounge in Old Town, one club that bucked the curfew over the weekend, said his revenue has dropped by 84 percent since the start of the pandemic.
“We have done more than what other companies are required to do,” Okumura said. “We make all of our employees wear masks, we have installed sanitation areas for people who come in to use, we take people’s temperatures, and we’re trying to go above and beyond. And we’re still being mandated to shut down earlier than we’re required to by law.”
Sedgwick County ordered bars and clubs closed, following the guidance of a White House task force report that laid out additional measures county officials should take to slow the spread of the virus in July, when the Wichita area was in the COVID-19 “red zone.”
Health experts, including Minns, have classified bars and nightclubs as high-risk areas for the spread of COVID. Even though many in the late-night crowd fall are low-risk for dying from the disease, they may act as a carrier for the virus and infect others, accelerating the spread throughout the community.
Darren Greiving, owner of Blu Night Club, another Wichita club that has been operating past curfew, pleaded with the commission to loosen restrictions.
“What are we supposed to do? There’s no money coming in. All of our bills are still due. It’s so frustrating,” he said.
“People are already aware that there’s a virus out there. They’re not on top of each other” at his bar, he said.
“Maybe at some places they have problems, but they need to worry about themselves. If their customers don’t feel comfortable going there, they won’t go there. We’re adults. Most of us have an immune system. It’s a terrible virus but please stop bankrupting us,” he said.
Editor’s note: The number of commissioners voting to change the county’s eligibility requirements for its CARES Act small business grants was incorrect in an earlier version of this story. The vote was 4-1 in favor of the change.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
