At 12:01 am Monday, Florida bars will reopen for indoor alcohol service, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the state Secretary of Department of Business and Professional Regulation Halsey Beshears would rescind the emergency order that had shuttered drinking establishments and allow them to operate at 50 percent indoor capacity. The state has more than 652,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, one of the highest tallies in the nation, according to Johns Hopkins University. Bars in Florida opened at half capacity for three weeks in June, but the state experienced a surge in cases of COVID-19 soon after, including outbreaks traced to bars. “Obviously, we saw some outbreaks linked to bars in Florida. But my sense is that that behavior would probably have been happening in private residences,” DeSantis said. Bar owners have sued the state over its lockdown orders.
