16 friends tested positive for COVID-19 after celebrating a birthday at a Florida bar
- A group of 16 friends all tested positive for COVID-19 after visiting Lynch's Irish Pub in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 6.
- Seven employees at Lynch's later tested positive for the virus.
- The group of friends said they decided to speak out about testing positive in hopes of encouraging others to stay away from bars and social gatherings.
A group of 16 friends all tested positive for COVID-19 after they went to a crowded Florida bar to celebrate a birthday in early June.
The group went to Lynch's Irish Pub in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 6, shortly after the state reopened its businesses after months of shutdowns and social distancing during the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to News4Jax.
Days after getting together, the friends started to feel sick and, one by one, all tested positive for COVID-19. No one got seriously ill from the virus, but several of them have felt sick for days.
Lynch's Irish Pub's general manager, Keith Doherty, closed the bar after hearing news of the friend group testing positive for COVID-19. He had all 49 of his employees take COVID-19 tests and seven of them tested positive, People reported.
Lynch's is reopened this week after a deep clean. All employees now have to wear masks, and customers will have to have their temperatures checked before entering.
Florida has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases as businesses continue to re-open, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday that the state would not roll-back reopening plans despite a spike in new COVID-19 cases.
"We're going to continue to protect the most vulnerable, we're going to urge continue to advise, particularly our elderly population, to maintain social distancing," he said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. "[And] if you can't social distance, or if you're in a face to face, then the masks are recommended."
Kat Layton, who is part of the group of friends that tested positive, told CNN's Chris Cuomo that she is speaking out about her experience in hopes of encouraging others to stay away from bars and social gatherings.
"We want to raise awareness and get ahead of it," Kat Layton told Cuomo. "We want to tell people it's really not ready for what we thought it was ready for, it's too soon."
Another friend in the group, 40-year-old Erika Crisp, told News4Jax that he regrets going out to the bar.
"I think we were careless and we went out into a public place when we should not have. And we were not wearing masks. I think we had a whole 'Out of sight, out of mind' mentality. The state opens back up and said everybody was fine, so we took advantage of that," Crisp said.
- Read more:
- 6 US states reported record coronavirus cases after reopening
- We're getting a better look at the NBA's 'bubble' environment in Disney, and it includes frequent COVID-19 testing, movie nights, DJ sets, and physical-distancing alarms
- Inside a mobile clinic delivering vaccines to children at home to prevent an uptick in measles during the pandemic
- Ezekiel Elliott and several other NFL players have tested positive for COVID-19 before training camp even begins, and the league's challenge to return safely looks daunting