MINNEAPOLIS — Two Minnesota bars are facing suspensions of their liquor licenses after serving customers indoors in defiance of Gov. Tim Walz’s executive order banning indoor service at bars and restaurants to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
State public safety officials announced late Wednesday that the Alibi Drinkery in Lakeville and Neighbors on the Rum will lose their liquor licenses for 60 days pending a hearing before a judge, after the establishments opened up for large crowds. More than 100 businesses have vowed to stay open in spite of the restrictions on bars and restaurants, which the governor extended through Jan. 11 on Wednesday.
“People will get sick and die because of you,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement on Wednesday. “Not only from COVID-19: if someone has a heart attack or a stroke or a car accident and dies because they can’t get an ICU bed that’s being used by someone who got COVID at your establishment, or got it from someone who got it at your establishment, that death is also on you.”
The Alibi Drinkery announced on Facebook on Thursday that the bar will again open for indoor service, claiming their liquor license is still valid because the hearing has not yet happened.
The Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday reported 2,775 confirmed new infections and said 83 more people have died of complications due to COVID-19. The state’s totals now stand 389,171 cases and 4,658 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
While case growth has somewhat declined in recent weeks, daily deaths have climbed. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Minnesota has risen over the past two weeks from more than 45 deaths per day on Dec. 2 to nearly 67 per day on Dec. 16, according to the COVID Tracking Project.