Jan. 14—Gov. Kevin Stitt walked back restrictions on bars and restaurants Wednesday, one day after a judge hammered the state in a written order for a lack of evidence that the restrictions effectively slowed the spread of COVID-19 in the first place.

In an amended executive order, Stitt removed the requirement for bars and restaurants to close in person service at 11 p.m. These restrictions originally took effect Nov. 19, but Stitt and the Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission lost the ability to enforce the order in December after a judge granted six bar owners a restraining order against the governor and his curfew.

The restraining order applied to the six bar owners in the case, but the ABLE Commission said it would not enforce the governor’s curfew on any establishment until the case was resolved.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma District Court Judge Susan Stallings ordered the temporary restraining order against the curfew would remain in effect until the case could be heard again in court in July. She repeatedly mentioned the state’s lack of evidence showing that COVID spread more in bars and restaurants past 11 than anywhere else.

“The defendants (Stitt, the ABLE Commission) provided no more evidence that the increase in COVID-19 infections was coming exclusively from bars open past 11 p.m., as compared to casinos and/ or all-night diners,” Stallings said in her order. “All involve the same behavior: being indoors, without sufficient distancing, and not wearing masks.

“It is imperative that the court have additional credible evidence to determine what impact bars, in comparison to other establishments that remain open after 11 p.m., have on the spread of COVID-19, before determining whether permanent injunctive relief is warranted in this matter,” Stallings wrote.

The requirement for bars and restaurants to space groups 6 feet apart or separate tables with properly sanitized glass or plexiglass remains in the renewed executive order.

“As we continue to adapt to the everchanging environment of COVID-19, we are maintaining our State of Emergency to ensure the State and our frontline health care workers can continue to effectively respond to the pandemic while also allowing our businesses to remain open safely,” Stitt said in a written statement. “The Oklahoma State Department of Health continues to lead the way in vaccine distribution as we are now ranked No. 7 among all states by the CDC in vaccines administered per capita. We have made great strides in the right direction and I continue to ask all Oklahomans to help slow the spread of the virus by taking proper safety precautions, including wearing a mask and social distancing.”

The plaintiffs attorney, Frank Urbanic said many questions remain and he will still pursue the case at hand.

“He still does not have the power to restrict businesses in the way he does in this executive order,” Urbanic said. “Who is going to enforce these things? Who will be going around with a measuring tape to see if people are six feet away from each other?

“Those are part of what we challenged as well,” Urbanic said. “The same questions we had for the enforcement of the 11 p.m. curfew we have for the enforcement of the other attempts to regulate businesses.”

The judge’s order Stallings’ order extending the temporary restraining order effectively meant bars and restaurants could serve alcohol on site after 11 p.m. through July 6, even before Stitt removed the curfew from his executive order. It’s the latest development in the ongoing legal dispute over the governor’s authority.

On Jan. 6, the matter was again brought to court, where the state’s lawyers and an attorney representing the bar and restaurant owners asked questions of experts, including Julie Watson, the chief medical examiner of Integris Health, state Health Commissioner Lance Frye, and John Budd, the state’s chief operating officer.

Bar owners were also questioned. Stallings hammered Assistant Solicitor Randall J. Yates with questions, asking where the state’s evidence was that bars were more of a problem in spreading COVID-19 than other establishments.

The state’s witnesses said as people drink, they lose inhibition and engage in risky behavior, such as not wearing masks and not social distancing.

The state also said some of their evidence comes from Google analytics.

Stallings order said Budd testified that Google had massive amounts of data and used artificial intelligence to examine three scenarios; a mask mandate, closing bars and restaurants, and closing schools.

The mask mandate was not employed because Google said it would have no impact, according to the order.

In court testimony, Budd said closing bars and restaurants was the scenario that drove COVID-19 case and hospitalization reduction.

However, the state didn’t present the COVID-19 task force analytic data related to the three scenarios because it was owned by and belonged to Google, the order said.

Stallings said the state’s COVID-19 task force was unaware where Google collected the data, how it was collected or by whom it was collected.

Google Analytics data lacks authentication and is therefore inadmissible as a matter of law, Stallings said.

There was no independent information from the Oklahoma Department of Health that indicated the origin of COVID-19 in Oklahoma, Stallings said in her order.

Stallings said in the month between the closing of the bars and the issuance of the temporary restraining order against the curfew, the cases of COVID-19 infection increased.