A Houston club is under fire after footage surfaced of it hosting busy pool parties over Memorial Day weekend, despite state social distancing guidelines.
Video of a pool party on Saturday at Clé Houston, a club in the city’s Midtown, shows a crowded outdoor gathering with no masks in sight.
Bars and clubs were allowed to reopen in Texas after COVID-19 lockdowns, but only at 25 percent capacity. It was not clear what percentage capacity Clé Houston had reached during the weekend pool parties. The club could not immediately be reached on Monday by NBC News.
Houston’s fire chief, Samuel Pena, said on Twitter that his department has responded to about 300 complaints of violations of the governor’s reopening orders over Memorial Day weekend.
The city’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, said Houston will close businesses that don’t follow state guidelines.
“There are too many people that are coming together to some of our clubs, our bars, swimming pool parties, no social distancing, no masks,” Turner said during a press conference Sunday, according to NBC Houston affiliate KPRC. “You are forcing us to step in for public health reasons to say no, we’re not going to allow that.”
The footage of the Houston club comes after footage of another pool party, at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, sparked outrage after showing hundreds of reported attendees appearing to ignore social distancing guidelines.
Mohammed Syed contributed.