For the first time in more than two months, the trained Angelenos can now have a bite to eat at one of the restaurants in the region – and stay for a while to enjoy it.
Los Angeles County officially lifted its ban on outdoor dining Friday and removed the proverbial padlock from restaurant patios after a lengthy closure of public health.
The move is not only a boost to the province’s hospitality industry – which has been dampened for months by the closures and restrictions to stop the transmission of the coronavirus – but the relaxation of what appears to be one of the more controversial rules the country put in place in the course of the pandemic.
Restaurants along Pier Plaza in Hermosa Beach reopened Friday for eating out, under loose, limited coronavirus restrictions.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Equally important, however, is what officials say the decision does not represent: an imminent end to the COVID-19 crisis, or a sign that residents could discard the practices and protocols intended to spread the deadly virus stop.
Under the new provincial rules, outdoor seating and wine services must be limited to 50% capacity, with tables placed at least 8 meters apart.
Outside seating is limited to a maximum of six people per table – and everyone sitting together must be from the same household, according to the health order.
“This is our first time in the real world,” Adrian Ramirez, 29, said right while enjoying dinner with friend Bobby Aksagul, 29, at Mel’s Drive-In dinner in Sherman Oaks. “The waitress said we were her first outside customers,” Ramirez said.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
In a nod to concerns about the Super Bowl and other sporting events that the public may hold for long periods, the order also stipulates that “televisions or other screens broadcasting the program must be turned off until further notice.”
Although the COVID-19 cases of the province have decreased, the risk of transmission by the community is still very high, according to dr. Muntu Davis, Health Officer.
“There is no risk at a restaurant or any other area where people from different households are together,” he said during a briefing on Friday.
At this point, he added, “we have to be really careful when moving forward, as we have a big sporting event,” and it’s not uncommon for people to “scream, scream, scream during the excitement of a game.”
Should conditions improve, Davis said the province would observe amendments to its rules.
“At the moment, we need to facilitate these reopening,” he said. ‘We want to see these cases continue to decline and our hospitalizations to continue to decline. Our health workers have done their job well … they are tired. ”
It did not take long before customers reached the patios and other dining areas outside.
Abby Hill broke her umbrella, and when she joined the Engine Co. no. 28 restaurant arriving, she was extraordinarily wet. On the veranda of the LA eatery downtown, the mood reflects the comfort of happy hour. And the systems analyst, visiting from Arizona, met an old colleague friend.
“Look at this cool place,” she said, pointing to the entrance to the historic landmark, first used by the city fire department and later as a credit union. She grabs her cell phone for a few selfies and tries to ignore her messy hair before going to scan the discount drinks. She decided on coffee, followed by the trio of pineapple, cucumber and strawberry margarita.
Her friend, Aaron Sanchez of Pasadena, sipped a few beers. He said he was excited “these places are reopening because we need more places to hang out outside our kitchen and television. I swear, it’s sad that you do not have to have choices when you are young and alone and that you have to be in quarantine. ”
The largest table in the covered patio seated only four, but James Chen had already mentally calculated to bring his girlfriend and others, perhaps for Valentine’s Day. He sends a reminder to himself to ask about reservations.
“I was thinking of a picnic on the beach, but I’m worried that too many people are going there on Saturday or Sunday to escape,” he said.
The lifting of the ban on outdoor dining is one of the clearest signs yet that the province is heading in a more positive direction. LA County health officials initially suspended the offer in late November amid a number of new coronavirus infections.
Shortly afterwards, California placed a new local home order throughout Southern California, extending the ban on outdoor dining and imposing a slew of other restrictions.
With the improvement in conditions, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that the orders across the country would be canceled. Many restaurants in the affected areas were able to reopen for outdoor dining earlier this week, but LA County has persisted – officials have said they want to introduce additional safety measures.
In the weeks since the ban on the dining room outside was introduced, some critics have demanded to see the data that justifies it, and questioned whether the benefits justify the economic restaurants suffering from it.
However, provincial health officials said the risk of coronavirus transmission is increased during any activity when people spend long periods in the immediate vicinity of those outside their homes while not wearing masks.
Along with restaurants, breweries in the LA province can also reopen for dining, and wineries can offer outdoor tastings.
Recently, improvements, while undoubtedly welcome, are the extent of the latest increase.
In mid-November, provincial health officials warned they would implement the ban on the outdoor dining room if the five-day average of new cases of coronavirus hit 4,000, or if hospitalizations were 1,750 a day higher.
Those thresholds seemed almost unthinkable at the time, as it would have meant a return to the numbers of the summer’s ominous wave.
However, it is a significant advance to get cases and hospitalizations at the once threatening levels. Over the past five days, the province has averaged more than 6,500 new daily cases of coronavirus, according to data compiled by The Times.
It has tumbled significantly from a few weeks ago, but is still higher than any level seen before the latest surge.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also moving down a steady clip, falling 25% nationwide over the past two weeks. However, the number of Angelenos hospitalized for COVID-19 on Thursday – 5,669 – is still more than twice as high as the peak of summer.
Officials acknowledge that the broad reopening of the economy could hamper progress. The coronavirus is a communicable disease and can spread widely and rapidly as people come into contact with each other more frequently without taking precautions, such as wearing face masks or keeping physical distance.
Unless businesses and residents remain true to the protocols that are there, officials say the country is in danger of not being able to move forward as quickly and widely as everyone would like.
“It’s really up to everyone, like most of this, is to do what’s right,” Davis said.