LOS ANGELES — California restaurants are paying a heavy price during the coronavirus pandemic as indoor dining has been shut down for the second time across much of the state.
An order this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom has left dining rooms dark in virtually every large county. It puzzled and frustrated restaurant owners who were following safety guidelines.
The chef and owner of the acclaimed Guerrilla Tacos in Los Angeles had just reopened Wednesday when the order to close indoor dining came down. He says there's “not a consultant you can hire to fix this.”
The California Restaurant Association says the industry is in “chaos.” The rollback of reopening in the counties is based on local conditions, Newsom said in the July 1 news conference.
The 19 counties include (in alphabetical order): Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Ventura counties. Those counties make up more than 70% of California’s population.
Additionally, Newsom reiterated the threat that the state would withhold budget monies, some $2.5 billion, as a penalty to counties that refused to comply with health orders aimed at fighting coronavirus.
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