As Covid Crisis Grows, Many California Businesses Bypass the Rules

SAN DIEGO – Along San Diego County’s coastal boulevards, restaurants buzz with commerce as patrons in sunglasses enjoy cocktails and alfresco bar fare.

Sandwich signs placed on the sidewalks advertise the services of massage parlors that have been closed for months. Some gyms in Southern California help build muscle indoors. And tribal casinos welcome players.

As the pandemic reaches new heights in California, many residents, tourists and business owners are doing the opposite of what is necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus, experts say. They are defying stay-at-home rules, recently extended until hospitalizations are cleared, which ban meals and non-essential retailers and services.

“I have to provide for my family,” said Brian Gruber, owner of Notorious Burgers, a Carlsbad restaurant open for alfresco dining. “I feel like these small businesses that stay open are in the same boat.”

Carlsbad, a coastal community in northern San Diego County, has been a hot spot for disobedience despite the threat of fines. In San Diego’s Miramar neighborhood, a scene collapsed at an illegal New Years Eve warehouse party, authorities said, injuring three people.

Two beach districts in San Diego, Pacific Beach and La Jolla, are packed with diners.

In North Park, Rudford’s restaurant circa 1938 is on the verge of permanent closure, owner Jeff Kasha said. As a result, he said, he plans to reopen indoor restaurants on Saturday.

“I don’t think we can survive another stoppage so we have to challenge,” he said.

“We didn’t have Christmas,” Kasha added. “I did not buy any presents for my children.”

For business owners like Kasha and Gruber, the financial payoffs are real. The California Restaurant Association said in August that thousands of restaurants had closed permanently and that 900,000 to 1 million restaurant workers had been laid off or laid off since March.

Temecula, a town in Riverside County, rose to fame for flouting the rules, and in Orange County, a bar owner was charged on Thursday with “illegal exploitation,” according to the district attorney’s office.

Orange County prosecutors also say Luisza Giulietta Mauro, manager of the Westend Bar in Costa Mesa, tried to prevent a police officer from entering inside on December 12.

“It is unacceptable for a business to [flout] regulations and continue to operate without even attempting to institute mitigation measures designed to save lives, ”Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

In early December, the Orange and Riverside County Sheriff’s Services indicated that home law enforcement would not be a priority. In San Diego County, sheriff’s assistants accompany health inspectors when issuing restraining orders to non-compliant businesses. Authorities in Los Angeles have cracked down on allegedly illicit party houses.

Authorities in the Los Angeles area participated in a New Years Eve concert and service hosted by Christian activist Sean Feucht, who earlier in the day led homeless outreach activities in a park from the city. He also hosted a meal distribution event on Skid Row. Many of his supporters have avoided wearing masks.

The governor’s office could not be reached on Friday for comment on alleged law breakers and enforcement efforts, although it is up to individual cities and counties to enforce state orders.

“The California Department of Public Health stresses the importance of continuing mitigation efforts to prevent transmission of COVID-19,” the department said via email.

San Diego County health officials reported a record daily number of virus-related deaths Thursday at 62, and at least four people have been found to have a more transmissible variant of Covid-19, known as B .1.1.7, first discovered in the UK.

Some hospitals in the area were running out of morgue space as county health officials used refrigerated trailers to store the overflow of bodies.

In Los Angeles County, where 207 coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Friday, many hospitals have been overwhelmed, some using makeshift intensive care units in souvenir shops and pediatric wards.

The rule-breaking in San Diego has prompted recently sworn-in mayor Todd Gloria to order “stricter enforcement for those who blatantly and blatantly defy local and state health orders.” tweeted.

“Failure to comply with any of the provisions of these decrees constitutes an imminent threat and a threat to public health, and constitutes a public nuisance and endangers the life or property of the inhabitants of the city”, declares the ‘order.