GREENSBORO, N.C. — Governor Roy Cooper's decision to extend Phase 2 is having a ripple effect.
Several businesses like bars, restaurants, and gyms, must either stay closed till September 11 or operate with some major restrictions. However, by that time many of those businesses would have been closed for a period of six months without any revenue inflow.
Cooper announced on Thursday the state's Phase 2 reopening plan was extended for five weeks. Phase 2 was expected to expire on Friday.
The order also pushes back the start of high school sports again.
Some bar owners said they're running out of money and the extension is unfair to their bottom line.
"The new normal for me consists of picking up DoorDash shifts to try to pay my rent," Drew Wofford of Greensboro said.
Wofford owns the Chemistry Nightclub Greensboro which had to shut down its doors when the first order was issued on March 17, more than 140 days ago.
Currently, around 1,000 of North Carolina's 7,000 bars remain closed due to COVID-19 concerns, despite phase-to-phase reopening efforts initiated by Cooper.
The five-week extension of Phase 2 also means movie theaters and entertainment venues will stay closed.
The impacted business owners said they're not being given a chance to try to follow safety rules or to survive the pandemic.
"If a brewpub or a restaurant can operate safely we should be held to the same standards and given the same opportunity to be given that lifeline," Wofford said.
Industry advocates said additional limitations and the fear of hefty penalties, such as losing one's liquor license, keep the businesses from getting creative to earn income.
"Something like getting them set up with a food truck and running their bar as a permanent fixture for that food truck. But the laws are pretty unclear about how that's going to work," Alex Hollowell of the Triad Food and Beverage Coalition said. Hollowell also owns Spruce Street Garden and said he's lucky because he also serves food.
"70% of our sales come from food and 30% from beverage and just because of that we're able to open up in some capacity like 50% and it's not exactly fair to some of my neighbors who essentially do the same thing but they have to close down," Hollowell said.
"It doesn't feel good at the end of the day because my friends down the road are hurting over what seems like an unfair advantage," he added.
The North Carolina Bar and Tavern Association wants some sort of assistance for those business owners who have been severely impacted by the governor's shutdown order.
"For us, the biggest thing we need right now is help from our government. We need financial relief and we need it fast, it may be already too late for many bars," Zack Medford, president of the NC Bar and Tavern Association said.
The NCBATA is raising a legal fund and along with the Triad Food and Beverage Coalition is providing access to financial resources to help business owners to try to stay afloat until the order is relaxed or lifted
Meanwhile, North Carolina has surpassed 130,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, with the majority of them being presumed recoveries. Cooper said he's making decisions based on the state's latest coronavirus data. The last time he extended Phase 2, state health officials were concerned about a rising number of new coronavirus cases as well as increased hospitalizations.