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“Don’t go to a Super Bowl party,” Los Angeles County director of public health Barbara Ferrer said this week. “It will be tragic if the Super Bowl becomes a super spreader [event] for sports fans. “
Ferrer also referred to rallies after last year’s championship by the Lakers and Dodgers, which public health officials say contributed to the fall wave of the virus. “We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past,” she said.
As a result, while the LA Department of Health now allows restaurants, wineries and breweries to reopen, it is with reduced capacity, increased social distancing, and no sports on TV. That’s right, roughly a week before the Super Bowl, Los Angeles’ new rules forbid watching TV at local establishments.
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The ongoing requirement that “everyone sharing a table must be in the same household” seems to hold back friends who watch the game together. Ditto a new ban on promoted events. “Restaurants may not host receptions, banquets or other events coordinated, organized or invited or
gatherings, ”we read in order.
And after being hammered by questions about the lack of empirical evidence – or even an explanation – for previous restrictions on restaurants, LA County officials sought to explain their reasoning this time around.
Of the order:
COVID-19 is spread primarily when people are physically close to, or have direct contact with, a person with COVID-19. When people with COVID-19 cough, sneeze, sing, talk or breathe, they produce respiratory droplets. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of spreading COVID-19 increases in a restaurant … as individuals remove their face coverings while eating and drinking and there is increased interaction with those. who do not live in the same household.
Here are the new rules released by LA Public Health on January 28.
• Employees who may come into contact with customers should wear both a face shield and a face shield at all times when interacting with customers and when in customer service areas.
• The number of seats on the outdoor dining table must be limited to a maximum of 6 people per table, all of whom must belong to the same household. All establishments must post signage and verbally advise patrons that everyone sharing a table must be from the same household.
• Seats for alfresco dining and wine service must be reduced by 50%. Outdoor tables should be repositioned or removed so that all tables are at least 8 feet apart.
• Televisions or other screens showing programs should be left off until further notice.
It is not known how the 50% outdoor capacity will be established for restaurants that do not normally serve outdoors, but are now doing so to attract customers.
Los Angeles County this week sued two restaurants that would have constituted a public nuisance by ignoring the edict put in place in late November to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday targets the Cronies Sports Grill on Kanan Road in Agoura Hills and the Tinhorn Flats Saloon & Grill on Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank. The lawsuit seeks a curtailment order directing the two restaurants to bring their businesses into compliance with health orders and allow inspectors to enter to ensure compliance.
The action also calls for civil penalties against companies for each day they fail to comply with health guidelines.
“We do not take this action lightly. However, as the complaint notes, “the actions of the defendants constitute a public nuisance and must be stopped,” a statement from the County Communications Office said.
Both companies have received repeated notices, written directions, quotes and calls to “do the right thing” and voluntarily comply with the mandates of health workers, the statement said.
Indeed, Deadline has repeatedly observed patrons gathered – some without masks and many within 6 feet of each other – at the Agoura Hills restaurant. (See story photo.) In December, there were rallies outside the restaurant to protest the masking and catering requirements.
To his credit, the restaurant owner was asking people to put on their masks and limit the number of customers allowed, but that didn’t do much. A line of potential drinkers and diners meandered the sidewalk with sporadic adherence to health protocols.
Daily Covid-19 infection numbers have tended to decline over the past two weeks, following a surge that has seen the county consistently report more than 10,000 cases.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Public Health announced 6,592 new Covid infections.
The number of hospitalizations also continued its downward trend. According to state figures, there were 5,855 people hospitalized with Covid in the county on Thursday, including 1,503 in intensive care. This marks a dramatic drop from the more than 8,000 patients reported earlier in January.
However, the county also reported 213 more deaths on Thursday. The new count brought the total death toll to 16,127. That represents 1,000 deaths in five days.
Health officials have warned that daily deaths are likely to remain high for the remainder of the month, even as the number of cases and hospital admissions continue to decline. Deaths are considered a lagging indicator, which means they naturally follow the increase in hospitalizations, and by early January the daily hospital population reached 8,000 people.
Although the numbers of cases have improved, they still remain dramatically high. Dr Christina Ghaly, county health services director, noted this week that while new Covid hospital admissions have dropped to around 500 per day from the recent high of around 700 per day, the current rate is still double that seen in the virus outbreak that took place last summer.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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