Bars have been named time and time again as one of the most dangerous places to visit amid the coronavirus pandemic. In June, MLive asked four infectious disease doctors to assess the risk of 36 activities—from going to the gym to getting on an airplane—1 being the least risky and 10 being the most. At the top of the list with a score of nine was going to a bar or nightclub. “After a couple of drinks, [people are] starting to feel a little more invincible,” Nasir Husain, MD, Henry Ford Macomb medical director for infection prevention, told MLive. “And that’s when the trouble starts.” Similarly, a July survey from the Texas Medical Association’s COVID-19 Task Force and Committee on Infectious Diseases had physicians rank 37 places and activities on how likely they are to result in COVID transmission on a scale of 1 to 10; bars topped that list as well. ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb On top of the decreased inhibitions, there are multiple reasons bars are very risky amid the pandemic. They’re typically filled with large crowds, talking loudly, poor ventilation, and there’s the obvious lack of mask-wearing while drinking, all of which make your local watering hole one of the most dangerous place to go. In fact, as of July 2, one Michigan bar was linked to at least 152 new coronavirus infections, despite the fact that the bar limited its capacity to 45 percent and spaced its tables six feet apart. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. For more on where your COVID risk factor is high, check out These Are the Places You’re Most Likely to Catch Coronavirus, Doctors Say.
