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Business reacts to Pima County Mandatory Curfew

Posted at 5:12 PM, Dec 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-16 19:12:25-05

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Edge on flowing wells road serves food, but they make most of their money in the later hours.

"I have a lot of bills, it hurts, it's hard, all of this is very difficult,” said bartender Jenny Fox.

We talked to Fox and the owner about Pima County’s mandatory curfew. They’ve already had to close twice this year. They worry a 10 p.m. cutoff means going out of business or at minimum losing more employees.

“We went from five bartenders down to three,” said Fox. “We might not even have bouncers. We have two now, but we don’t have any room.”

Fox says employees have been wearing masks and cleaning and says she doesn’t think a curfew will stop people from finding places to grab a drink with friends. “Individuals are going to do what they want to do; they will go out and hang out with each other.”

Pima County cited surging case counts and a lack of compliance to the voluntary curfew when approving the mandatory curfew. The resolution states the curfew will end when the rate of transmission falls below 100 cases per 100,000 population.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to curb it just by shutting down at 10 o'clock,” said Fox.