Name: Health officials: South Bend bar, ND students violated COVID measures at 'packed' event
Brand: southbendtribune.com
SKU: southbendtribune-com-6
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Health officials: South Bend bar, ND students violated COVID measures at 'packed' event

preview

Jeff ParrottSouth Bend Tribune‘Packed’ event violated ordersSouth Bend TribuneSOUTH BEND — Notre Dame and St. Joseph County health officials say they aren’t happy with a downtown South Bend bar’s lack of COVID-19 safety measures discovered late Wednesday night, and the county could move to shut it down if it happens again.County Health Officer Dr. Robert Einterz said he caught wind of a “100 Days Before Graduation” promotion that Finnie’s Next Door, a popular student bar at 233 S. Main St., was running from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.Wanting to signal the importance of safety at the bar, Einterz said he showed up himself, rather than sending a staff member, at about midnight. He says he found the bar was violating Gov. Eric Holcomb’s current COVID-19 executive order.In particular, for counties in the state’s yellow designation for COVID-19 severity, such as St. Joseph, the order prohibits indoor social gatherings of more than 100 people without filing a “safety plan” with the county health department. The plan must address issues including capacity, staff and volunteer screening, social distancing measures, increased sanitation and face coverings.Einterz said the bar had filed no plan and he estimated there were more than 300 people, most not wearing masks.A reporter asked Einterz to describe what he saw when he walked in.“Have you ever had the good fortune of going to Kenya during the great wildebeest migration? The animals hip to hip, nose to nose, grunting and making all sorts of guttural sounds. Perhaps what was lacking was the very distinct odor that one notices in the wildebeest migration. It is a serious matter but that is what it was like,” he said. “The venue was packed on the main floor with probably 20% of people with a mask.”The health department could issue the bar an abatement order, which serves as a warning, and if it happens again, the bar could be shut down, Einterz said.“This is unfortunate because the bars … by and large have been doing a pretty nice job of ensuring reasonable compliance with the governor’s executive order and of course with our own public health order and ordinance,” he said. “So this was disappointing to see this many individuals congregating in one space and not physically distancing.”Bar’s responseWhen contacted for comment Monday, bar owner Rick Ruszkowski said he was unaware of the executive order’s requirements for large social gatherings but noted he didn’t think they applied to this situation anyway. He said he’s only been open Fridays and Saturdays during the pandemic “to try and be a good partner in the community” but decided to open Wednesday to host this “party.”He then seemed to argue that what happened Wednesday night was both a party and part of his regular operating business.“I’m not really sure that the special event, I guess, tag or permit, however you want to refer to it, I don’t think that applies to us,” he said. “It’s never been clear if it did or it didn’t. I am caught off-guard because I wouldn’t think that applies to a business that can be open seven days a week.”Holcomb’s order does not use the terms “special event” or “permit.” It requires the host of a social event with at least 100 people to file the safety plan. While “express approval” isn’t mandatory, the health department can deny a plan or request changes, the executive order states.Ruszkowski said with 12,000 square feet and both floors open in the venue, people had plenty of space to distance, but he acknowledged they weren’t often doing so. He said he can’t determine who is with people from their own parties or households and who should be distancing.He said Einterz and his staff member saw Ruszkowski and his employees walking around the bar and telling people to wear masks. He said he doesn’t take the pandemic lightly because he’s lost an uncle, two cousins and a friend to COVID-19.“I don’t agree with the mask,” Ruszkowski said. “I don’t think they help, personally, but when I’m at the bar I’m doing my share and going around, I’m wearing a mask and I’m asking everybody to wear a mask.”This past weekend, he said, the music was stopped at least five times, and the DJ refused to resume the music unless people put their masks on.“We’ve had lots of patrons refuse to do it and leave, we’ve had confrontations in the past with customers,” he said. “I just cannot put our staff in jeopardy anymore to have confrontations with people.”ND’s reactionEinterz said he called Tim Sexton, the university’s associate vice president for public affairs, the morning after the event and reported the incident. Einterz said he did not know what steps, if any, the university might take in response.University spokesman Paul Browne on Monday said such behavior by students, on or off campus, violates university policy and could bring sanctions up to suspension. But since the incident already happened, Browne initially said the university wasn’t likely to investigate.Hypothetically speaking, Browne said, the university could seek discipline against any students found to have helped the bar organize such events but wouldn’t try to investigate the identifies of any students for simply attending.When The Tribune shared a version of this story on its Facebook and Twitter accounts Tuesday morning, many readers criticized the university for not wanting to investigate who attended the party. On Tuesday afternoon, Browne contacted the Tribune and said “in retrospect, I should have been clearer about the fact that Notre Dame will, in fact, try to identify students” who attended.He also addressed the event at Finnie’s.“Compared to other taverns that are frequented by college students in the area, including Notre Dame students, this, as described, seems to be the most flagrant violation that we’ve heard of,” Browne said. “Obviously we’re concerned that events like that could contribute to the spreading of COVID-19, not only to the student body but to the community at large.”Browne said Finnie’s had promoted the event by advertising entry for $20 per person.“We certainly don’t want or encourage businesses to try to attract students to an environment where there is blatant violations, if not encouragement to violate, health protocols,” Browne said.Einterz said students also bear blame for acting “irresponsibly.”After averaging between four and seven new student cases from Jan. 25 through Feb. 7, the university began reporting a sharp increase in student cases on Feb. 8, five days after classes resumed. By Saturday the 7-day moving average of positive cases had reached 30.9.Einterz said the department can only bring a warning for this incident, in the form of an abatement letter that the health department’s attorney drafts and delivers, because it was a first violation of the governor’s order. Finnies and several other area bars were issued abatement orders in late September but that was over violating Einterz’ mask order.In the Wednesday night incident, Finnie’s wasn’t violating the county’s mask ordinance because it had required customers to wear a mask to enter, and employees were found to be wearing masks, Einterz said.

Jeff ParrottSouth Bend Tribune‘Packed’ event violated ordersSouth Bend TribuneSOUTH BEND — Notre Dame and St. Joseph County health officials say they aren’t happy with a downtown South Bend bar’s lack of COVID-19 safety measures discovered late Wednesday night, and the county could move to shut it down if it happens again.County Health Officer Dr. Robert Einterz said he caught wind of a “100 Days Before Graduation” promotion that Finnie’s Next Door, a popular student bar at 233 S. Main St., was running from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.Wanting to signal the importance of safety at the bar, Einterz said...

Health officials: South Bend bar, ND students violated COVID measures at 'packed' event

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS