The Kentucky Coffee Shop loses its license to reject the coronavirus order

The Kentucky Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) put an emergency license lockdown on a coffee shop on Wednesday after refusing to close for violating COVID-19 restrictions.

Lexington Coffee Shop Brewed was scheduled to close on Tuesday, but opened on Wednesday anyway, serving dozens of customers. Owner Andrew Cooperrider said Tuesday that he will not be suspending indoor service Lexington Herald Leader reported.

Cooperrider is an official with the Kentucky Libertarian Party and posted on his Facebook page that he refused to comply with the new restrictions imposed by Governor Andy Beshear (D) last week.

Beshear last week enacted massive new restrictions stating, “Inaction is fatal.” Its new restrictions have stopped face-to-face learning, banned indoor service in restaurants and bars, and restricted the capacity of gyms, weddings and offices.

“Pretending this virus isn’t real is not an option,” Beshear said. “It is time to do what it takes to end this fight.”

Beshear said most restaurants and bars complied with the regulation, which went into effect on November 20. For the companies resisting the orders, Beshear said they could lose their alcohol licenses and be fined up to $ 100 by the health department.

According to reports, customers were overcrowded in the café on Wednesday, with some expressly coming out “because they are fighting against the governor’s orders”.

The newspaper spoke to several of these customers. A truck driver named Christie Coleman said, “There’s no need to turn everything off.” Coleman told the newspaper that she had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and had visited several restaurants everywhere she went.

Cooperrider wrote on his Facebook page: “Andy says no more beer. ABC withdrew the license. This was expected. We didn’t even order beer this week. “

Despite the combative response of some owners, Beshear has made some arrangements for such businesses. When he announced the restrictions, he also announced a $ 40 million fund to help restaurants and bars affected by the closings. Organizations can get up to $ 20,000 in assistance if they have more than one location.

According to recent data, nearly all of Kentucky counties are in the “red” zone, which means there have been more than 25 reported cases per 100,000 people in the past 7 days. The bluegrass state has reported 162,838 cases and 1,809 deaths to date, according to the CDC. As of November 20, 3,816 cases were reported, the most ever recorded in a single day.

Comments are closed.