BATON ROUGE — Some Acadiana bar owners are hoping to make their voices heard about the latest shutdown.
Bars were forced to close amid the latest spike in COVID-19 cases across the state.
The Department of Health reports that bars lead the way with the number of outbreaks in the state. According to the latest numbers, there have been 36 outbreaks stemming from bars, resulting in 429 cases of COVID-19.
Despite that, some bar owners say they're being unfairly targeted. Many took their concerns to Baton Rouge.
On the steps of the state capitol, bar owners united, hoping they'll be able to reopen their bars soon.
"We were shut down again on Monday with no warning, after being shut down for three months prior to that," owner of Mila's Bourbon Hall, Danita Maldonado, said.
Maldonado was one of several bar owners who met with Governor Edwards' attorney on Thursday to discuss their concerns over the latest mandate.
"Unfortunately bar owners across the state have no idea what to do. Our income has went from the little we were able to make while we were open to absolutely nothing," Maldonado said.
"You won't find a single bar owner across the state happy," Drew Jordan said.
Jordan, owner of Double Hill Bar and Grill in Houma, joined Maldonado at the capital.
"We didn't get a lot of answers that we liked, they told us that there may be some assistance for us, but it won't be enough. They openly said, 'We know it won't be enough,'" Jordan explained.
"The biggest thing was to come here and figure out why we were singled out, why we are not able to continue making a living, and unfortunately they weren't able to answer those questions for us," Maldonado added.
The business owners say although they didn't get the answers they wanted, their voices were heard.
"Probably the only thing that came out of that is we got into somebody's ear, and now we know we have to keep doing that," Maldonado said.
For now, the owners say they will remain closed.
