- Title: I drink alone - celebrating St. Patrick's in the time of coronavirus
- Date: 15th March 2020
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (MARCH 15, 2020) (REUTERS) BARTENDER POURING DRINK BARTENDER SERVING DRINK TO ONLY TWO PEOPLE AT DOWNTOWN BAR ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY WEEKEND VARIOUS OF EMPTY TABLES AT HAWK 'N DOVE RESTAURANT PAN FROM EMPTY TABLES TO BARTENDER SERVING YOUNG MEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) GARRETT KNOTHE, 22-YEAR-OLD MAN FROM ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, DESCRIBING WHAT HE USUALLY DOES ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY SAYING: "It's usually a bar hop. This year I don't know, I don't know how much they might cancel and what they might still have going on so we'll see. But I'll definitely try and go out to the bars but I'll be careful." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOE HARTSHORN, 23-YEAR-OLD MAN FROM DALLAS, TEXAS, "I don't know. I had this trip planned for about two months so I wasn't going to cancel it, like I came in on Thursday. I just washed my hands, did everything everyone is telling me to do and just try to do social distancing as much as I could. But I don't know, I think it is what it is. JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: And what do you normally do on St. Patrick's day and have your plans changed at all? HARTSHORN: I usually go to the Dallas parade but I don't get back but they canceled that actually already, everybody's pretty bummed about that. But I'm just going to stay in, yeah." YOUNG MEN SITTING AT BAR INTERIOR OF HAWK 'N DOVE WITH EMPTY TABLES FRIENDS WALKING IN VARIOUS OF FRIENDS SITTING AT TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAT LATIN, WASHINGTON, D.C., RESIDENT, SAYING: "Yes, I'm quite anxious about it myself because I'm I'm 80, I just turned 80 and I have asthma, you know. So I'm quite anxious about it. So I'll be changing my habits. We had to cancel several tickets." FRIENDS EATING (SOUNDBITE) (English) FAIRFIELD BUTT, 85-YEAR-OLD WASHINGTON, D.C. RESIDENT, SAYING: "Well, my friends are very generous, and they we met at our church and they brought me items to use during this time, which is very sweet of them." VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF HAWK 'N DOVE INTERIOR OF 'THE DUBLINER' IRISH PUB WITH VERY FEW PEOPLE ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY WEEKEND (SOUNDBITE) (English) MISHA SIMON, MANAGER OF 'THE DUBLINER' IRISH PUB, DESCRIBING A TYPICAL ST. PATRICK'S DAY WEEKEND COMPARED TO THIS YEAR'S WEEKEND, SAYING: "We are like packed like sardines in here usually on a good St. Paddy's weekend, usually the whole weekend, especially on St. Patrick's Day, so it is it is definitely taking a toll on us and you can you can see it right now. I mean, it's 12:00 right now and we have maybe four people in the restaurant. So it's one of those things, you take it in stride really as it comes. Like I said, developments are happening every day. They're imposing certain sanctions and whatnot. So it's just one of those you kind of like, you hope for the best." BAR WITH ONLY THREE CUSTOMERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MISHA SIMON, MANAGER OF 'THE DUBLINER' IRISH PUB, DESCRIBING A TYPICAL ST. PATRICK'S DAY WEEKEND COMPARED TO THIS YEAR'S WEEKEND, SAYING: "All this furniture would have been moved. There would be nothing in here. It's standing room only. And I mean, like balls to the wall, you're you're really like, you can tell, it's a completely different day than any, than any day of the year. This year is very tough to predict what will happen. I'm I'm you know, so so yesterday with the crowd that we did end up getting, that kind of like helped us salvage the day: very young. So I'm expecting I'm expecting the same thing: a young crowd. You know, this is a huge holiday for these people that look forward to this every every year. I mean, they really do look forward to this. People usually rent out rooms in the hotel that we're attached to. And it's just cancelations every day, so..." BARTENDER TALKING TO CUSTOMER (SOUNDBITE) (English) MISHA SIMON, MANAGER OF 'THE DUBLINER' IRISH PUB, EXPLAINING WHAT MEASURES THEY HAVE TAKEN TO PREVENT CORONAVIRUS SPREADING, SAYING: "Yes, so we were able to install a hand sanitizing station and we've kind of left bottles around the restaurant for people to kind of just use us as they go. I mean, we went through like a safety seminar, if you will, with the staff, and, you know, you do what you can." VARIOUS OF EMPTY TABLES AT 'THE DUBLINER' IRISH PUB COUPLE EATING AT ONLY OCCUPIED TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LINDY HOCKENBERRY, 80-YEAR-OLD CUSTOMER WHO HAS BEEN VISITING FOR 35 YEARS, SAYING: "We just you know, we come down now just two times a years St. Patrick's Day and the parade day, which usually that's today and usually this place is packed. And the Coleman family is huge. They usually take up the whole-- the owner-- they usually take up all this space with all the grandkids and the kids and everything. But they're they're staying home, even this year. And so it's it's really weird. Very, very strange. We still haven't made up our minds about St. Patrick's Day. I'm leaning against it. He thinks he's going to die if he doesn't come down here on St. Patrick's Day." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ED CHRISTIANSON, 77-YEAR-OLD CUSTOMER WHO HAS BEEN VISITING FOR 35 YEARS AND COLLECTS COMMEMORATIVE PINS, SAYING: LINDY HOCKENBERRY OFF-CAMERA: I'm not coming. CHRISTIANSON: No, I'll be down here. I probably won't stay as long as I usually do. I'll probably come in for a half hour or so. I just feel I have to come down. It's in my genes. Like I say, with all the buttons, people want to see them. So I will definitely be here." THIS YEAR'S COMMEMORATIVE BUTTON BEING HELD BY CHRISTIANSON
- Embargoed: 29th March 2020 21:49
- Keywords: St. Patrick's day coronavirus pandemic pubs restaurants
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C55XNWN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Washington, D.C.-area restaurants and pubs were unusually empty the weekend before St. Patrick's day, the same day Mayor Muriel Bowser instituted more rules to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Just a stone's throw from the Capitol, the Hawk 'n Dove is usually full at this hour, with Capitol Hill residents and people streaming out from the nearby churches.
But most churches have canceled service and only a few customers streamed into the pub.
Twenty-two year old Garrett Knothe from Rochester, New York said he usually has a busy night of bar hopping scheduled on St. Patrick's Day.
"It's usually a bar hop. This year I don't know, I don't know how much they might cancel and what they might still have going on so we'll see. But I'll definitely try and go out to the bars but I'll be careful," he said.
His friend Joe Hartshorn is visiting Washington from Dallas, Texas, and said he was reluctant to cancel his trip.
"I had this trip planned for about two months so I wasn't going to cancel it... I just washed my hands, did everything everyone is telling me to do and just try to do social distancing as much as I could," he said, but added that he was thinking of canceling his plans to go out on St. Patrick's day.
At 80 years of age, Pat Latin said she was quite concerned about the spread of the virus.
"I'm quite anxious about it myself because I'm 80, I just turned 80 and I have asthma, you know. So I'm quite anxious about it. So I'll be changing my habits. We had to cancel several tickets," she said, lamenting the cancellation of her birthday celebration at the Kennedy Center.
Latin's friend, 85-year-old Fairfield Butt, said he usually doesn't go out much but was grateful that Latin and another friend from church had brought him hand sanitizer.
"Well, my friends are very generous, and they we met at our church and they brought me items to use during this time, which is very sweet of them," he said.
Here at The Dubliner, a traditional Irish pub in the nation's capital, manager Misha Simon said St. Patrick's day and the weekend before it are usually the busiest times during the year. Things are different this year.
"We are like packed like sardines in here usually on a good St. Paddy's weekend, usually the whole weekend, especially on St. Patrick's Day, so it is it is definitely taking a toll on us and you can you can see it right now. I mean, it's 12:00 right now and we have maybe four people in the restaurant," he said.
"Like I said, developments are happening every day. They're imposing certain sanctions and whatnot. So it's just one of those you kind of like, you hope for the best," he said.
Customer Lindy Hockenberry who has faithfully visited the pub for 35 years with her husband Ed Christianson said this year was unlike any other.
"We come down now just two times a years, St. Patrick's Day and the parade day, which usually that's today and usually this place is packed... And so it's it's really weird. Very, very strange. We still haven't made up our minds about St. Patrick's Day. I'm leaning against it. He thinks he's going to die if he doesn't come down here on St. Patrick's Day," she said.
Despite his 77 years of age, Christianson said he was planning on visiting the pub on St. Patrick's day, but would stay only half an hour.
On Sunday (March 15), Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced additional regulations on restaurants, taverns, nightclubs and multi-purpose facilities to prohibit mass gatherings.
Among the latest restrictions are that facilities cannot serve standing customers, must limit seating in tables to 6 people and ensure that occupied tables are at least 6 feet apart.
With limited testing available, U.S. officials have recorded nearly 3,000 cases and 62 deaths.
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