The Bay Area will be fully locked on December 6

After Bay Area restaurateurs watched Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement of a stay-at-home order for California counties hardest hit by the pandemic, they breathed the slightest sigh of relief . The Bay Area, Newsom said, “is doing a bit better” than the rest of the state in terms of COVID-19 cases, so it was likely that outdoor dining and other activities could be done. continue until mid-December. That sigh of relief was premature, however, as Central Bay Area health workers announced today that the region will proactively enter the state’s most restrictive closure since March, shutting down restaurants in full swing. air and restricting other businesses in much of the region from Sunday. , December 6.

At a press conference on Friday, health officials from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the city of Berkeley counties (which has its own health department) announced that the shutdown would begin even before the state required it. he. For Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the city of Berkeley, the stay-at-home order will begin Sunday at the curfew time already established at 10 p.m. In Alameda County, it will come into effect on Monday, December 7. In Marin County, the ordinance will take effect Tuesday, December 8. The new restrictions will remain in effect in all of these counties until January 4, 2021.

Speaking at the event, Dr Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County Health Officer, said that although cases continue to climb, “we think December will be worse” and “we don’t think that we can wait to allow state restrictions to disappear. in force. That is why we are making temporary changes to take effect now. “

As part of the plan announced by Newsom on Thursday, California is divided into five regions: Far North California, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, and the Bay Area ( which under this plan includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey., Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma). When the capacity of the intensive care unit in a region’s hospital network falls below 15%, lockdown occurs until “the planned capacity of a region’s ICU reaches or exceeds 15%. ”, Or for at least three weeks.

Under this decree, full details of which can be found here, “all gatherings with members of other households are prohibited”, residents must “stay at home or at their place of residence unless necessary to conduct activities related to the operation, maintenance, or use of critical infrastructure. Having said that, “nothing in this order prevents a number of people from the same household from leaving their residence … as long as they do not engage in any interaction with (or otherwise meet with) any number of people from another household. “In other words, a walk in the park is fine, but a walk in the park with your friend a few blocks away is not.

As for grocery stores, bodegas and other retail operations, they must all reduce their capacity to 20%, and “the sale of food, beverages and alcohol for consumption in stores is prohibited”. The same goes for the on-site consumption of food or drinks in restaurants, which may continue to serve take-out and deliveries and cocktails.

In a statement, San Francisco’s restaurant lobby, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, expressed frustration with Friday’s announcement, saying “today’s decision to ‘skip’ the state is very difficult. for our industry. … After listening to the governor’s announcement yesterday, restaurants in San Francisco figured that a new outdoor restaurant closure would occur around mid-December and were developing staffing and operational plans about it .

The surprise of the closure was also on the minds of restaurateurs like Mourad Lahlou, whose Moroccan restaurant Outer Richmond Aziza reopened after a multi-year renovation, just months before the start of the pandemic. His other location, the financial district’s foodie destination, Mourad, closed its doors to diners when the crisis emptied the city’s downtown core, switching to a take-out meal kit model. But Aziza went all out for her outdoor catering, taking control of a nearby parking lane and sidewalk.

Now sit-down meals in Aziza must cease at least until the end of 2020. “I trust the experts in science and health, and if they feel that a stop is what will mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, so be it, ”Lahlou said,“ No one wants to see another human being get sick or lose their life to earn money. But without financial support from the federal government … the hole will be too deep to come out, and reducing our losses will be the best option.

For George Chen, founder of China Live, Friday’s announcement was the latest in a slow death by a thousand cuts. Its huge, multi-site Chinatown Market increased its delivery game as the pandemic raged, built an outdoor setup, and opened for indoor dining as soon as allowed. When the indoor dining room closed the shutters, Chen was forced to lay off employees; he is preparing for a “brutal vacation”. The latest restrictions come “at the worst time,” he said, as his businesses had just “returned to some normalcy.” But now, “basically the lockdown is demoralizing again.”

Chen says he’s worried his workers “won’t have enough money to spend the holidays and the end of the year, but he doesn’t know what else he can do. “We can’t keep them,” he says, “because liquidity is very tight” and information on federal stimulus programs is non-existent. “We just want to do the best we can for our restaurant industry, but this has to get a permanent fix as soon as it wears us all out!”

The GGRA seems well aware that its members are – in Chen’s words – exhausted, claiming that “with just take out and deliver as options, we expect immediate negative effects on our industry, including restaurant hibernations and / or more permanent closures, which will lead to increased unemployment. According to the GGRA, “the majority of restaurants simply cannot afford take-out food on their own,” but “with the uncertainty surrounding additional federal support, San Francisco restaurants, their employees and their families will suffer. greatly from having no choice but to shut down for a period of time. “

In Lahlou’s words, “this is no fucking joke.” Without federal support like a bailout, restaurant law, or a stimulus bill that provides assistance to the food and beverage industry, “the continuation of the free fall and subsequent transmission will be too powerful to sustain. or survive, ”he says. Texting Eater SF from his restaurant’s kitchen, Lahlou says at the moment he’s only focused on the next few days. “I’m just trying to find a way to stay open to take out,” he says, so he can keep his employees employed “for the next two months, until the shutdown is eased.