Shutdown of Cancun Mexican Restaurant and Grill due to COVID-19 violations raises questions, concerns about students attending unofficial “bar nights”
Cancun Mexican Restaurant, a popular restaurant located off Main Street in downtown Waterville, was forced to close for a week from April 13 to 20 by the state of Maine due to reported COVID-19 safety violations.
According to documents obtained by The Morning Sentinel, a state health inspector issued a COVID-19 “imminent health hazard” to the restaurant on April 13. The report claimed that the Waterville Police observed Cancun staff not wearing face coverings and that the restaurant failed to quarantine a sick employee from the workforce while waiting for test results. The inspector also wrote that patrons were allowed to wander and mingle freely, violating state social distancing guidelines.
Cancun owner Hector Fuentes reportedly agreed to comply with state requirements. In an exclusive statement to The Colby Echo, however, Fuentes stated that the crackdown had “nothing to do with the restaurant.”
“Violations that I been accused is [sic] after 10 p.m. when the bar stays open late, that night one of the bouncers does not have the mask on,” Fuentes wrote. “After hours people don’t want to use they mask [sic], I can’t control that, I have sign [sic] in the door saying to wear a mask before get in to [sic] the restaurant, and social distancing!”
Fuentes claimed that other bars downtown are also violating COVID-19 guidelines, making the state-enforced shutdown of Cancun hypocritical.
“I’m not the only bar in town to let people mingling [sic] around after hours, but I’m the only one that have been punished [sic],” Fuentes wrote.
Cancun’s shutdown follows rumors on Colby’s campus of large groups of students attending unofficial “bar nights” at Cancun and other bars, breaking COVID-19 guidelines.
“On Thursdays when I get home, I’ve often seen large groups of students getting off of the shuttle and heading towards Silver Street, people who definitely don’t live downtown,” an anonymous resident of the Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons told The Colby Echo. “A lot of times they aren’t wearing their masks properly. I usually hear them on their way back at about 1 or 1:30 in the morning, drunk and rowdy. They often wake me up.”
Another anonymous student told The Colby Echo she received an invitation to one of these unofficial Cancun bar nights over JanPlan, which she declined out of concerns about COVID-19 safety.
In a poll conducted by The Colby Echo on Instagram asking if students had heard of these unofficial bar nights at Cancun, 64% of the 289 responses received said they had. Several students messaged The Colby Echo separately to comment.
“Heard that sports teams are going to bars,” one student wrote. “Personally, I’d rather not have [COVID-19].”
“Wow,” another student wrote. “White people were selfish and it had consequences on [sic] everybody except for them.”
“My roomate [sic] went out to the bars and it puts me and her whole bubble at risk for [COVID-19,]” another student wrote.
One student claimed that there was a “good chance” they were infected with COVID-19 after eating lunch at Cancun over JanPlan; another wrote that Cancun was one of the major factors behind recent outbreaks on campus.
Despite the influx of vaccines, COVID-19 cases are still on the rise in Maine, particularly amongst its younger residents. Since Jan. 1, the number of infections in residents 20 and under has increased 170 percent while infections in residents in their 20s have increased 128 percent. While over 38 percent of Maine’s population is fully vaccinated at the time of publication, current data suggests that around 70 percent of the population would need to be immune to achieve herd immunity to COVID-19.
The College has frequently cited indoor-dining in restaurants and bars as some of the most common sources of COVID-19 cases amongst Colby students. In an email from Dean Burrell-McRae `94 on April 7 following an outbreak that left over 100 students in quarantine, the College wrote that students are “strongly discouraged” from going to restaurants and bars.
Despite the recent rise in cases in Maine and cautions from the administration, many students who responded to The Colby Echo on Instagram seemed to believe the COVID-19 pandemic is “over.”
“[COVID-19] is over,” one student wrote. “If Miami can open safely then rural Maine should be alright.”
“People should be allowed to live their lives at this point …” another student wrote.
“If they’re vaxxed, let it rip,” another response read.
“Let the kids have fun! [COVID-19] is over,” said another.
Such statements are not supported by current science. COVID-19 cases are on the rise all over the U.S., despite the recent increase in vaccinations. According to the CDC, it is also still possible for people who are fully vaccinated to contract and spread COVID-19. Over 6,000 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in patients who have been fully vaccinated.
“You know, I fully trust Colby students to know what is okay and what is not okay,” one student said about the unofficial bar nights. “You all are smart. You know that going to a bar with 30 other people is wrong. Figure it out.”
Cancun Mexican Restaurant has now reopened with increased vigilance by Waterville Police to ensure they are obeying COVID-19 guidelines. Only time will tell whether its shut-down will convince Colby students of the risks of indoor dining.
~ Sarah Warner `21
