SAN DIEGO (AP) – A California judge cleared the way on Thursday for all San Diego County restaurants to resume dinner on site, marking a major, albeit temporary, setback to orders to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus before the state’s intensive care units run out of beds.
Gavin Newsom immediately appealed, leaving restaurant owners uncertain about whether or not to buy food and schedule staff a week before Christmas, amid the possibility that their victory could be reversed soon.
The case, which was taken to court by two San Diego strip clubs, earned the biggest win to date for California companies opposing public health orders that they say economically paralyzed them.
Judge Joel Wohlfeil, judge at the Superior Court of San Diego, said his ruling on Wednesday was “ straightforward ” and went beyond the strip clubs that sued the county and state, Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club and Pacers Showgirls International. County officials requested the hearing to clarify its scope.
“It is intended to include all restaurants in County San Diego,” he said during a brief hearing that lasted nearly eight minutes.
The County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to meet in closed session on Friday to discuss next steps. The board voted 3-2 last week to appeal an unfavorable ruling on the strip clubs, but that decision did not affect restaurants, which it disputed.
“The state of California has already appealed the decision, so whether the county joins it or not will not affect the outcome,” said County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who supports the restrictions.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said the city was working closely with the state to understand the implications.
“Nobody wants our small businesses to close, but the science and data shows a serious trend in hospital admissions and deaths,” Gloria said.
The mood of uncertainty hung over restaurant owners as they considered reopening.
Some will reopen only for outdoor dining, said Miles Himmel, spokesman for County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who is against state restrictions. Others are reluctant because a call may force them to close again after trying to buy food and schedule staff a week before Christmas. Some open again.
Hours after the warrant was issued Wednesday, San Diego County had suspended enforcement of the restrictions, excluding indoor and outdoor dining and live entertainment in the county of 3 million people, the state’s second most populous nation.
The ruling against the state restrictions comes because California registered a record 379 deaths from coronavirus and more than 52,000 new confirmed cases on Thursday.
Wohlfeil said in Wednesday’s ruling that the state had not shown that restaurants and strip clubs were contributing to the spread of viruses or shortages of hospital beds. He said that “San Diego County businesses with restaurant services,” including the strip clubs, are exempt from closure and “all related orders” that prohibit live adult entertainment and go beyond protocols “that are no greater than essential” to prevent the spread of COVID. -19.
The judge noted that before being ordered to close in October, the two strip clubs were operating under their own security measures for five weeks – including keeping strippers 15 feet (4.6 meters) from tables, taking no more than one stripper per stage was allowed and these and other workers to wear masks.
Three restaurant owners, including one who owns multiple establishments in San Diego, said they planned to reopen by the weekend. They did not want to be named for fear of being targeted by officials.
Angie Weber, the owner of Cowboy Star and and Butcher Shop in downtown San Diego, said she waited to see if officials appeal before calling her staff to return to work.
“For now, we are hopeful that the ruling will be upheld and that we can reopen with all the security protocols we had previously put in place,” Weber said in an email on Thursday.
Weber’s company belonged to two San Diego restaurants and two gyms that filed lawsuits on behalf of their industries, demanding that California’s four-tiered pandemic restriction system be declared illegal. The judge in that case rejected their request to resume indoor activities.
In a similar lawsuit against Los Angeles County, a judge found that the health director acted “arbitrarily” and did not prove that health benefits outweigh negative economic effects before banning indoor and outdoor eating. But the case did not include the actions of the state, which issued its order on Dec. 3, which maintained restrictions that allowed only takeout and delivery services and excluded social gatherings.
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Associated Press writer John Antczak contributed to this report from Los Angeles.