ST. LOUIS — In an effort to curb the COVID-19 spike, St. Louis County has announced new restrictions and St. Louis city is shutting down some businesses.
“And we're trying to do this so we don't have to go toward a blanket approach,” Mayor Lyda Krewson said.
The city is shutting down some businesses for two weeks because they’re flouting social distancing and mask requirements after being asked to get into compliance, the mayor said.
The announcement comes after a video of mask-less partying at The Wheelhouse, a downtown bar, was shared on social media over the weekend.
“I know there's fun to be had after midnight, but in the middle of a pandemic, we have to curtail that,” Krewson said.
5 On Your Side was there as St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts served The Wheelhouse the shutdown order. He told us Start Bar and Big Daddy’s on the Landing were also ordered to close.
RELATED: 3 St. Louis bars ordered to temporarily close after city says they violated public health orders
The city is hoping to avoid impacting businesses that are following the rules, like Crown Candy Kitchen.
“I spend all day on Fridays and Saturdays being the mask policeman, making sure people have their masks on, making sure they're wearing it right,” owner Andy Karandzieff said.
He said when other businesses don’t follow the rules, it’s harder on everyone.
“I don't look forward to people getting shut down, but I don't look forward to the fall and winter when we're possibly all going to suffer because we didn't do the right thing right now.'
Unlike the city, in St. Louis County, there are new blanket restrictions, starting Friday at 5 p.m: Bars have to close by 10 p.m. each night, business occupancy will be limited to 25 percent and social gatherings need to be capped at 50 people.
“The rate of rise that we see today will be much worse before it gets better, so we have to make these decisions now to keep us from getting in a much worse place,” County Executive Sam Page said.
The city and county are using two different approaches to solve a shared problem.
“It's different for each place and I understand that. My hope is that collective they will all have an impact on the spread of the virus,” Dr. Alex Garza, head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, said.
Page said it will likely be a few weeks before the measures announced Monday have a measurable impact on the case data. The restrictions will be in place for four weeks, he said.
