"I know I've seen some flyers about the mask off parties. I don't even get it," said Turner.
RELATED: How some businesses plan to handle face mask mandate lift
City leaders are looking into a promotion from Concrete Cowboy, a bar on Washington Avenue.
Turner was joined by State Rep. Ann Johnson Sunday in a press conference calling for the event to be cancelled.
"Let's make sure we get the vaccines in people's arms before we open the gates and start acting as if everything is fine when everything is not fine," said Turner.
After struggling for the past year, losing money every month, to watch a different bar try to exploit the end of a health policy, Al Jara, the owner of Marquis II, calls it irresponsible.
"There's no need to try to actively gather people. More than likely I'll give my customers the choice, but I'm not going to promote coming in here and having a huge gathering. I think that's incredibly irresponsible," Jara said.
Johnson applauded those bar owners who are acting responsibly at this time.
This weekend, Turner said the city of Houston has surpassed 2,000 deaths from COVID-19. He also reminded people that there are five variants of the virus in the city.
Texas' mask mandate lift and the promotion of Concrete Cowboy's mask-off party has caused concerns of other similar events from other states coming to Texas.
Turner said promoters in states that are not allowed to operate at 100% and forced to wear a mask, are promoting bringing those events to cities like Houston, Dallas and Austin.
"This poses a serious risk," he said.
Johnson added that just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should.
"What Governor Abbott has done is give a license to the irresponsible individuals to risk our public health, when he should be pulling their liquor license," she said. "So we are asking all Houstonians to continue to follow healthy measures of socially distancing, getting vaccinated, and doing things to protect our safety."
A pediatrician with Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital was also at the briefing pleading people to continue taking preventative measures.
"Mask-off events celebrating the reckless, if not the negligent rollback of COVID-19 prevention measures, is like pouring salt over a gaping wound for health care workers in this city and in this great state," said Dr. Christina Propst.
She said as of right now seven percent of Texans are vaccinated. In order to reach herd immunity, 70% of Texans need to be immunized.
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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner wants planned 'maskless parties' at bars to be canceled - KTRK-TV
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