Outdoor dining: Restaurant industry questions data behind closures
Infectious disease doctor says no evidence shows outdoor dining contributes to COVID cases
California state and local officials have been using metrics like hospital and ICU capacity to determine when certain regions should be put under stay-at-home orders, but businesses want to know if shutting everything down will stop the spread.
OAKLAND, Calif. - California state and local officials have been using metrics like hospital and ICU capacity to determine when certain regions should be put under stay-at-home orders, but businesses want to know if shutting everything down will stop the spread.
Mauricio Torres says his father, owner of Molcajete Cocina Mexicana restaurant on 17th and Webster Street in Oakland invested into turning a makeshift outdoor dining area into a more comfortable environment to attract more customers and comply with local health orders for outdoor dining.
It officially opened just a couple of weeks ago, but the need order means it will sit empty for the next three weeks.
"It's going to be a struggle because we invested a lot into all this and just to not have enough money to pay it back right now, it's going to be hard," said Torres. "Just the thought of people not coming here and everything being so slow, it's been a very stressful time."
While restaurant owners are asking for health officials to share data that shows dining outside is leading to a spike in COVID-19 cases, Monica Ghandi, an infectious disease doctor and professor of medicine at UCSF says there's no information to suggest that is the case.
"So we have not seen any data yet reported that outdoor dining with the ventilation, masking hand hygiene, washing surfaces and keeping people away from each other with small tables was driving this surge in California," Dr. Ghandi told KTVU.
The argument led a southern California judge to rule in favor of the California Restaurant Association, which took Los Angeles County to court for imposing an order forcing restaurants to close.
"Where are they getting the idea that ICU beds are related to outdoor dining? Why should the restaurant industry be the only industry that the burden of ICU beds being scarce," said Alexandra Kazarian, an attorney for Geragos & Geragos, which represents the California Restaurant Association.
"The judge said that it is a failure of government that in nine months, the county, the state, nobody has done any research into whether outdoor dining specifically contributes to a rise in COVID cases.”
The ban of outdoor dining at restaurants in L.A. County ends next week Dec 16 and once that's happened, the judge said that county health officials must conduct a risk-benefit analysis to extend the closures.
Attorneys for the California Restaurant Association said their next step will be to sue the governor over the statewide order that currently prohibits restaurants from serving outdoors.