Outdoor Dining Is it safe? PRO

BY MICHAEL LOIZZO

It’s been more than one year since COVID-19 shut down the country and nearly the entire world.

The pandemic has been stressful, exhausting and rough on people’s mental health, but things started to look like they were taking a turn for the citizens of Los Angeles in early January.

Jan. 29 is when officials finally allowed restaurants to continue outdoor dining after an additional two-month suspension that forced the restaurant industry to transition to delivery and take-out only.

With restaurants limited to a 50% capacity on top of a strict mask mandate, cleaning protocols and the positioning of tables to be at a minimum eight feet apart, business owners are taking as many safety precautions as possible.

Prior to the reopening of outdoor dining, the LAPD busted several secret parties with hundreds of people in attendance.

When officials decided to shut down all outdoor dining in early December 2020, things did not get better from there. On the Los Angeles Times, county supervisor Kathryn Barger said that though cases had been increasing, the rise could “not be directly attributed to outdoor dining.”

It’s better for people to go to a restaurant that provides outdoor dining with strict and helpful protocols to keep us safe from COVID-19, rather than people gathering together at secret house parties with no restrictions.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Superior Court judge James Chalfant said that the county

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