UPDATE: Marley's says that they will resume normal business operations on Tuesday and Nitetown will be open this weekend too.

Two bars located in Downtown Lafayette closed over the weekend as the number of COVID-19 cases increased across the region.

Marley's Sports Bar and Nitetown elected to close their doors Saturday night in an effort to protect their workers and patrons.

George Favaloro, who is part owner of both establishments, sent me the following statement over the weekend.

"After much discussion with my staff concerning the recent spike of COVID 19 cases among college students, we made a business decision based on the safety of our staff and customers to not open Saturday night. With it being Father’s Day weekend, the safety and well being of our staff, customers, and the people that they will come in contact with, came first."

As of now, none of the workers at either establishment has tested positive for the coronavirus, but the management teams at both downtown venues wanted to protect their workers from being exposed to the virus.

In recent days we have seen an uptick in the number of positive COVID cases among the younger folks. Several bars in Baton Rouge closed over the weekend after it was determined that a number of people who tested positive for the coronavirus went to Tigerland, near LSU.

We have also received a number of reports of athletes at LSU and UL-Lafayette testing positive for COVID.

While Nitetown and Marley's elected to close their doors over the weekend due to the coronavirus pandemic, other bars in the downtown district opened with a large number of patrons waiting in line to enter.

Management at Marley's and Nitetown say that they will continue to monitor the situation and will reassess normal business operations in the days ahead.

Most bars in Louisiana are still operating at a 25% capacity.

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