‘I know I’ve seen some flyers about party masks. I don’t even get it, ”said Turner.
RELATED: How Some Companies Plan To Lift Its Face Mask Mandate
City leaders are investigating a promotion of Concrete Cowboy, a bar on Washington Avenue.
Turner was joined on Sunday by State Representative Ann Johnson at a press conference calling for the event to be canceled.
“Let’s make sure we get the vaccines into people’s arms before we open the gates and pretend that everything is okay when everything is not okay,” Turner said.
Marquis II’s owner, Al Jara, calls it, after struggling for the past year, losing money every month, another bar trying to take advantage of the end of a health policy.
“There is no need to actively gather people. I will most likely give my clients the choice, but I am not going to be promoted to come in here and have a big meeting. I think that’s incredibly irresponsible,” Jara said.
Johnson applauded the bar owners who are acting responsibly at the moment.
This weekend, Turner said the city of Houston has surpassed more than 2,000 deaths from COVID-19. He also reminded people that there are five varieties of the virus in the city.
The lifting of the Texas mask mandate and the promotion of Concrete Cowboy’s mask-off party have raised concerns about other similar events from other states coming to Texas.
Turner said promoters in states that are not allowed to operate 100% and are forced to wear a mask are promoting to bring those events to cities like Houston, Dallas and Austin.
“This poses a serious risk,” he said.
Johnson added that just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should.
“What Governor Abbott has done is to license the irresponsible individuals to endanger our public health while he should revoke their liquor license,” she said. “So we ask all Houstonians to continue to follow healthy measures to distance themselves socially, get vaccinated, and do things to protect our safety.”
A pediatrician from Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital was also at the briefing, begging people to continue taking preventative measures.
“Mask-off events celebrating the reckless if not negligent rollback of COVID-19 prevention measures are like pouring salt over a gaping wound for health workers in this city and in this great state,” said Dr. Christina Propst.
She said that as of now, seven percent of Texans have been vaccinated. To achieve immunity to the herd, 70% of Texans must be immunized.
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