While businesses are open and welcoming the increased tourist traffic, health officials have urged consumers to stay vigilant.
A year ago, BrainDead Brewing’s Deep Ellum manager Thomas Little said he was unsure whether the entertainment districts would recover.
“Last year there was a point where we thought we were going to close. In the end we didn’t make it, we made it, but obviously there was an uncertainty, ”he said.
For the past 18 months, Little has noticed all around him that businesses in North Texas have been forced to make difficult decisions. On this Labor Day, however, he breathes a sigh of relief
“A lot of people are very anxious to be able to do this,” he said. “Now that the vaccines have been introduced and things seem a bit safer, people are happy to be here.”
The change in social behavior can be observed across industries, including airlines. Travel is a good indicator of how much has changed since that time in the past year.
Official TSA figures showed on September 4, 2020 that 664,640 travelers had checked their system. This year on the same day: 1.5 million travelers.
Still, UT Southwestern Medical Center warns that the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in North Texas is expected to increase in the next few weeks.
While masking is more adhered to, models show that hospital admissions are increased for all age groups.
Little said that despite the excitement of the long weekend as the manager of a popular Deep Ellum location, he will continue to do his part to enforce security.
“I think we’ve all taken a little more ownership here just to try and make it work,” he said.
[ad_1]
