Orange County

Orange County strike team finds all 8 sports bars inspected on Super Bowl Sunday in compliance

By Deanna Allbrittin, WFTV.com and James Tutten, WFTV.com
By Deanna Allbrittin, WFTV.com and James Tutten, WFTV.com

ORLANDO, Fla. — Local leaders are hoping crowds out enjoying the Super Bowl doesn’t lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Video shows large, packed crowds, with few people wearing masks in Tampa on Friday night, which has some officials worried.

The Orange County COVID-19 Task Force was out over the weekend making sure bars don’t have big Super Bowl crowds. Out of the eight sports bars they visited the county said all of them were found to be in compliance with pandemic protocols.

Watch: How local bars are preparing for Super Bowl weekend crowds amid mandated pandemic protocols

See the list of the eight businesses they visited below:

  • Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill, 3400 E. Colonial Dr.
  • Miller’s Ale House, 2600 E. Colonial Dr.
  • Ker’s Wing House Bar & Grill, 3789 S. Kirkman Rd.
  • Miller’s Ale House, 5573 S. Kirkman Rd.
  • Bloodhound Brew, 5801 Conroy Rd.
  • BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, 4151 Conroy Rd.
  • Duffy’s Sports Grill, 4158 Conroy Rd.
  • TGI Friday’s, 4151 Millenia Blvd.

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The checks on pandemic safety protocols for businesses follow stepped-up enforcements that started last week.

Data from the county shows that enforcement actions last week resulted in three warnings and four citations against businesses, including four bars.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said that this prompted officials to take a closer look at bars and nightclubs this weekend.

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New information from the county sheds more light on why the UCF-area bars were cited and fined $300 last weekend.

The strike teams found everyone at Knight’s Pub going in and out without masks.

Knight Library, they said, was having a rave type of theme going on inside with no social distancing or masks.

Read: CDC issues Super Bowl watch party guidelines amid COVID-19 pandemic

The report claims Infyniti Knight Club had staff and patrons not wearing masks, plus no signage to even indicate masks should be worn.

Those are the kinds of violations the strike team is out looking for.

About two-thirds of all the warnings and citations handed out since Dec. 7 in the county haven’t been at bars.

See the video above for more details on the worst non-bar offenders.

Cox Media Group

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