BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A local restaurant told to close. The state and local officials stepping in after being notified of videos posted on the Ten20 Restuarant's Instagram story.
COVID-19 numbers in the state of Connecticut continue to rise. The infection rate has hit at 4.1%. The highest it has been since early June. Health officials are pointing to a community spread at local social gatherings for the recent spike.
This put the Ten20 restaurant in the crosshairs. Governor Ned Lamont tweeted out a video of the recent private party held at the Bridgeport establishment. Over a hundred patrons were tightly packed together without masks. The Governor called out the restaurant in his post for not obeying the rules. He said their actions aren’t fair to restaurants trying to slow the spread. Handling scenarios like this was the topic of a recent meeting the Governor held with Mayors.
"We let them know all the sanctions we have including closing down a bar that was egregiously violating our standards.
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Gamin reacted to the video that has been seen over 75,000 times. He tweeted that this is the restaurant’s third violation of COVID guidelines. They have been shut down and must appeal to the state to reopen.
"We’ve had two trainings now with local health departments and municipal officials, municipal designees on enforcement and how to issue infractions," said the Public Health Commissioner Deirdre Gifford.
The owner Ten20 tells FOX61 that the closure notice took them by surprise. They had voluntarily closed this morning after the Governor's tweet. It wasn’t until 5 p.m. this afternoon the received a notification from the city. The restaurant posted a video on Instagram of disinfecting efforts around the restaurant.
The owner says the event was a private birthday party that had over 100 people. He says the city never came to talk with him to get their side of the story but understands the closure.
"We’re doing everything we can to allow people to get back to a normal life as safely as we can but with that type of behavior going on, it’s going to be impossible," said Gov. Lamont.
The owner says he is not sure when they will reopen. They will be releasing a statement on the incident soon.
