SAN DIEGO – Up and down the coastal boulevards of San Diego County, restaurants abound with commerce as customers in sunglasses enjoy cocktails and bar food al fresco.
Sandwich plates placed on sidewalks advertise the services of massage parlors that have been closed for months. Some gyms in Southern California allow muscle building inside. 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 needed to slow down the spread of coronavirus, experts say. They contradict the home rules, which were recently extended until hospitalizations disappear, banning eateries and non-essential retailers and services.
“I have to support my family,” says Brian Gruber, who owns Notorious Burgers, a Carlsbad eatery open for dining. “I feel like these small businesses are in the same boat.”
Carlsbad, a coastal community in northern San Diego County, was a hotbed of disobedience despite the threat of fines. In the area of Miramar in San Diego, a stadium collapsed during an illegal warehouse party on New Year’s Eve, authorities injured three people.
Two beach neighborhoods in San Diego, Pacific Beach and La Jolla, are full of meals.
In North Park, Rudford’s was on the brink of permanent closure around 1938, owner Jeff Kasha said. As a result, he said, he plans to reopen indoor dining on Saturday.
“I do not think we can survive another closure, so we have to defy,” he said.
“We did not have Christmas,” Kasha added. “I did not buy gifts for my children.”
For business owners like Kasha and Gruber, the financial downturn is real. The California Restaurant Association said in August that thousands of restaurants have closed permanently, and that 900,000 to 1 million restaurant workers have been laid off or relocated since March.
Temecula, a town in Riverside County, has become notorious for breaking the rules, and in Orange County a bar owner was charged Thursday with “illegal operation,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Orange County prosecutors also allege that Luisza Giulietta Mauro, manager of Westend Bar in Costa Mesa, tried to prevent a police officer from entering on Dec. 12.
‘It is unacceptable for a business to do it repeatedly [flout] the regulations and continue to work without first trying to put in place any mitigating measures intended to save lives, ‘Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
In early December, the sheriff’s departments in Orange and Riverside showed that staying at home would not be a priority. In the province of San Diego, the sheriff’s deputies accompany health inspectors as they order stop and stop delivering to businesses that do not meet the requirements. Authorities in Los Angeles have reportedly raided illegal party homes.
Authorities in the Los Angeles area fought a New Year’s Eve concert and service, organized by Christian activist Sean Feucht, who held homeless outreach at a city park earlier in the day. He also arranged an event for meals on Skid Row. Many of his followers avoided wearing masks.
The governors’ office could not be reached for comment Friday on alleged violations of the law and enforcement efforts, although it is up to individual cities and provinces to enforce state orders.
“The California Department of Public Health emphasizes the importance of ongoing mitigation efforts to prevent COVID-19 transmission,” the department said in an email.
San Diego County health officials reported a record number of virus-related deaths at 62 on Thursday and at least four people were found to have a more transmissible variant of Covid-19, known as B.1.1.7, which was first reported in the United States Kingdom.
Some hospitals in the region no longer have mortuary space left because health officials in the province have used refrigerated trailers to store the abundance of bodies.
In Los Angeles County, where 207 coronavirus deaths were reported Friday, many hospitals were overwhelmed, and some used temporary intensive care units in gift shops and children’s wards.
The San Diego rule recently inspired sworn Mayor Todd Gloria to order stronger enforcement for those who blatantly and seriously defy local and state health orders. ‘ tweeted.
“Failure to comply with the provisions of these orders constitutes an imminent threat and threat to public health, and is a public nuisance and endangers the lives or property of residents of the city,” the order reads.
