L.A. County Lets Restaurants Reopen for Outdoor Dining by End of Week

An employee works inside the kitchen at "Eat At Joe's", which has remained
Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty

LOS ANGELES, California — Los Angeles County health authorities announced Monday that they would permit area restaurants to resume service for outdoor dining by the end of the week, after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) lifted stay-at-home coronavirus orders.

Newsom’s decision came as a winter surge in coronavirus infections hit a plateau and more space reportedly opened up in hospital intensive care units (ICUs). However, critics claimed that Newsom may have been motivated by the success of an ongoing effort to gather enough signatures to force a recall election on the next statewide ballot, which have reached 80% of the 1.5 million signatures needed by mid-March. (Newsom dismissed such claims as “complete, utter nonsense.”)

In a press statement Monday, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said:

Today, the State lifted the Regional Stay Home Order and moved all counties back into the Blueprint for a Safer Economy color-coded tiers. Los Angeles County, along with the majority of the State, is in the most restrictive purple tier.

The following restrictions remain in effect until January 29:

  • Restaurants, wineries and breweries remain open for pick-up, delivery, and take-out only.
  • Non-essential businesses closed from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Residents are advised to stay home as much as possible and always wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when they are outside their household and around others.

The county’s coronavirus case count peaked on January 8, and has fallen by half since then, county health authorities said.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is How Not to Be a Sh!thole Country: Lessons from South Africa. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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