This story is reported by The Columbus Dispatch, a Spectrum News partner.
ATHENS — Tony’s Tavern, a small, but long-standing Athens staple, stands off the corner of the college town’s Court and West State streets. Its doors are locked, lights are dimmed and patio barren.
The bar has been closed for 114 days. Ever since Gov. Mike DeWine’s initial order to shut down all bars, restaurants and establishments — beyond carry-out — took effect on March 15.
Tony’s chose to remain closed even when DeWine allowed bars and restaurants to reopen back in May out of concern for their staff, co-owner Cheryl Sylvester explained. A few of their employees had autoimmune deficiencies. Others had small children.
But Sylvester and her husband, Tony, were planning a cautious, but hopeful return to business on Thursday, July 9.
“We installed acrylic panels all the way up and down the bar,” Sylvetser said, “Employees were gonna wear masks — we were all about following the rules, then, boom! The numbers just spiked and got out of control.”
Elisabeth Bacon, an Athens resident, takes a self administered COVID-19 test at the CVS on East State Street in Athens, Ohio, on July 22, 2020. “You go out places, go to Walmart, go to Kroger,” said Bacon. Since COVID-19 cases are spiking across Athens county, Bacon feels it better to be safe and get the test now regardless of symptoms. [Gaelen Morse/ The Columbus Dispatch]
Athens county has reported 284 total cases of coronavirus as of Wednesday, nearly eight times the number on July 2, triggering the Ohio Public Health Advisory to designate the county a Level 3 alert, out of four levels, last week, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health.
The levels are color coordinated, ranging from “active exposure and spread” yellow all the way to “severe exposure and spread, only leave the home for supplies and services” purple. Athens is a Level 3 red county.
Rural counties across the state are seeing COVID-19 rates rise. DeWine’s administration issued Scioto county a Level 3 region and also elevated contiguous Lawrence and Adams counties to orange Level 2 status.
“When we saw the economy and travel reopen is when we saw this increase and it steadily got quicker and quicker,” an epidemiologist and emergency response coordinator for Lawrence and Scioto counties and Portsmouth City Health Departments, Molly Davis said.
“Really, what contributed,” she said, “was a lack of masks while traveling.”
Scioto and Lawrence counties are now reporting a total of 106 and 152 total COVID-19 cases, respectively, as of Wednesday.
Athens Mayor Steve Patterson believes Ohio University students living in Athens over the summer who frequented bars, houses and porch parties factored in the county’s sharp uptick.
“Eighty-eight percent of our positive cases have been within the 20-29 year-old demographic,” Patterson said.
The mayor said city council pushed an ordinance through last week, mandating face masks throughout Athens, after several bars shut back down when employees tested positive for the virus.
“We are on the watch list for purple [Level 4 risk advisory],” Patterson explained. “I’m watching the numbers. I’m always very cautious about this, but the numbers at the end of last week and through the weekend appeared to be lower.”
The number of newly reported daily cases has decreased from a high of 29 on July 8 to a single case reported on Monday, according to data from the state health department.
Ohio’s alert system is a helpful tool for the Athens City-County Health Department to forecast and respond accordingly to the data, Administrator Jack Pepper wrote in an email to the Dispatch.
“We were certainly disappointed that we moved from orange to red,” he wrote. “Fortunately we have seen a decline in numbers from last week and are of course hopeful that trend continues and will soon be returning to orange or yellow.”
And, a week after the mask ordinance was passed, Athens residents appear to be adhering to the city’s mandate.
That’s true in Portsmouth, too, Molly Davis said.
“This is Appalachia,” she said. “Appalachians are super independent and they’re used to taking care of themselves and their own communities. They don’t enjoy being told to do something against their will.”
But Davis said she’s seen a real shift in attitudes after Portsmouth city officials passed a mask mandate on July 13.
“I do think that trust in local officials helped to change the tides of attitudes here, for the vast majority.
“It’s people they trust,” she added.
Students in Athens seem to be taking the virus more seriously, too, Ohio University senior Dave Sexton said.
The 21-year-old works at the boathouse in Strouds Runs State Park, five miles outside of the city, where many residents and students come to rent kayaks or seek refuge on the beach.
“It’s quieted down here especially during the last week,” Sexton said. “A month ago five to 10% of customers wore masks in the boathouse. Now it’s more like 70%.”
For bar owners like Cheryl Sylvester and her husband, who’ve tried to take every precaution before opening , it’s beeb frustrating to see so many not wearing masks in town.
Cheryl Sylvester, co-owner of Tony’s Tavern, poses for a portrait inside the closed bar on West State Street in Athens, Ohio, on July 20, 2020. Tony’s has been closed since the beginning of the pandemic and Sylvester said they remain hesitant to reopen amid the recent spike in cases. [Gaelen Morse/The Columbus Dispatch]
And worse still, to hear rumors that fellow bar owners were enabling them by not enforcing the rules.
“But I find myself every day on social media defending bars,” Sylvester said, “especially my own.”
She urges the public not to lump all bar owners together as irresponsible community members.
“It’s conflicting,” Sylvester said, sporting a purple mask emblazoned with the Tony’s logo inside the empty tavern. “It’s exhausting to defend the bar business because we want to do right by our staff and community, but we also own a business.”
For now, Tony’s will remain closed.
“Maybe next week,” Sylvester said.
Ceili Doyle is a Report for America corps member and covers rural issues in Ohio for The Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift at: https://bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
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