Indoor live music is allowed again in Louisiana bars and music venues under the Phase Three public health guidelines that went into effect Wednesday.
State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said to do so venues will have to meet criteria like a 20-foot separation between stage and audience, strong HVAC that can execute six air exchanges an hour, and one of four additional requirements. Those are: positive pressure is being blown back onto performers so that they aren’t spewing air particles at the crowd, the stage area having its own air conditioning, the use of Plexiglas, or that band members remain masked and blown instruments remain covered at all times.
If Plexiglas is utilized the band may be ten feet from the crowd instead of twenty.
Browning said it is likely the HVAC requirement will disqualify some smaller bars. He says the air cycling requirements will rule out some venues, but those venues would have already had problems meeting criteria like a 20 foot gap between the audience and the band.
If a venue meets these requirements they can begin having live music immediately. You can view the limitations at opensafely.la.gov.
Restaurants are now allowed to operate at 75 percent capacity while bars can run at 25 percent capacity.
Browning says to be clear the experience still won’t be what it was pre-pandemic.
“You still can’t dance, you still got to be seated like at a venue, theater type situation, and you can’t congregate,” said Browning who added patrons will still be required to mask up.
Comments