What the recent spate of COVID-19 in California means for Los Angeles restaurants

Los Angeles County Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer held a press conference yesterday that outlined some grim details for the region and across the country. California became the second state, after Texas, to surpass one million cases of COVID-19. As of November 13, LA County now had an average of 2,128 cases per day over the past week, which is expected to increase in the coming weeks, Thanksgiving and the December holidays leading to more rallies.

These statistics are similar to those in big cities like New York, San Francisco and Chicago, where city and state authorities are taking new steps to reduce the number of infections. In New York City, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that licensed restaurants and bars are to close at 10 p.m. Restaurants in San Francisco are to close indoor restaurants today as coronavirus cases have increased by 250% in recent weeks. In Chicago, where the interior dining rooms had already been closed, Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged workers to call 311 to report irresponsible restaurant owners, while issuing a new stay-at-home and travel advisory.

Ferrer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued no such notice this week, which has helped keep LA County’s alfresco dining in place for now. Like San Diego, Los Angeles remains in the most restrictive purple level of the state’s reopening system. San Diego restaurants reopened in August for limited-capacity dining, but are due to revert to delivery and take-out only starting Saturday.

Ferrer called for caution and found that there was “more evidence that we are seeing increasing community transmission. We probably haven’t yet seen the full consequences of the surge in cases we’ve recently experienced. “

What does this mean for LA County restaurants? At this time, there is no indication that Los Angeles could follow a similar direction as Chicago, New York or San Francisco. Ferrer offered no guidance to food companies yesterday. However, the county could use some tools to limit the spread of community transmission, such as eliminating even eating out and reverting to a stay-at-home order, which they did in early spring. . However, officials could choose to limit opening hours, which they had not done before. On November 3, Ferrer told residents not to expect indoor meals at least this month, or potentially in 2021.

Any action by the health department will have a hard impact on a struggling restaurant industry. Restaurant owners are required to purchase personal protective equipment for their employees, deal with fewer customers and reduce their income, and likely will not receive assistance from the federal government.

If and when guidelines are issued, government officials might consider giving as much notice as possible. A common complaint among restaurateurs since March is quick communication. At the end of May, LA County told restaurants in LA they were allowed to reopen, but the delay in issuing detailed safety instructions caused a lot of confusion. In New York this week, restaurants have not received details by officials about new restrictions on their businesses.

In 2020, LA restaurants have changed their business models or learned to adapt to new, ever-changing rules countless times already – anything that could facilitate the changes to come will likely be welcome.