Goeiemore, LA It’s March 10th.
It is with the greatest hesitation that I say: Indoor dining can be resumed soon.
Barbara Ferrer, director of public health in LA County, said during a meeting yesterday the province is probably going to graduate from the state’s most restrictive purple level to the slightly less restrictive red level this weekend. (The color-coded level system guides what can be open and exactly how open it can be.) Provinces can move in the red level if they have an adjusted daily rate of four to seven per 100,000 people an average positivity rate of five to eight percent .
My colleague Elina Shatkin report that in the red level, restaurants can open indoor eateries with 25% or 100 customers, whichever is lower. Wine cellars and tasting rooms can only start inside the next level (orange), and pubs, breweries and distilleries have to stay until then completely.
There are several reasons why LA County – after a frightening and deadly winter thunderstorm – look at the red level: Coronavirus cases have declined, officials have adjusted their vaccination strategy and the criteria have changed slightly.
But we have traveled this road before. After the start of the pandemic, restaurants in LA had to allow it reopens for indoor dining – yes, indoor dining! – in May last year. At the time, there were no official guidelines, and restaurants were on the honor code to follow the protocol.
It did not go well.
From there city and provincial officials closed restaurants again, then open them again for eating, then closed them to eat out again, which has easily resulted in some restaurants completely ignore the rules.
It’s all to say: let’s take it one step at a time. It would be great if LA moved into the red level, and not just because more businesses could reopen – it would mean fewer people getting sick.
Read on for more information on what’s happening in LA today, and stay safe out there.
What else do you need to know today
Before you leave … Disneyland announces reopening
Get your mouse ears and Disney-themed masks ready. At Tuesday’s Disney shareholders’ meeting, CEO Bob Chapek announced that the company expects to reopen Southern California parks – with limited capacity – end of April.
“Here in California, we are encouraged by the positive trends we are seeing, and we are hopeful that it will improve,” Chapek said.
Although he did not offer a specific date, he said it should be announced ‘in the coming weeks’. ‘The state announced last week that theme parks could reopen on April 1, but there is logistics which means it will not happen that soon.
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