Page 2 December 3, 2020 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
New Life
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311 Main St. Suite B, El Segundo, CA 90245
www.newlifehearing.net
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Douglass
MORTUARY
“Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954”
B U R I A L - C R E M AT I O N - W O R L DW I D E T R A N S F E R
P E T M E M O R I A L P RO D U C T S
500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245
Te l e p h o n e ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 9 3 2 5 • F a x ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 0 7 7 8 • F D 6 5 8
Council Joins Growing Resistance
to Restaurant Dining Ban
By Rob McCarthy
Add El Segundo to the growing list of local
governments fighting the latest lockdown
on restaurant dining right before the start
of the holidays. On Tuesday, mayor Drew
Boyles detailed a flurry of behind-the-scenes
discussions to persuade Los Angeles County
public health officials that locking down
restaurants and breweries is unfair to food
and beverage businesses that already have
taken extraordinary precautions.
The County Public Health Department on
November 22 announced that restaurants
would be limited to take-out service only
starting on the night before Thanksgiving
and lasting until December 17. The restriction
included breweries, wineries and bars
to prevent crowding and transmission of the
virus that causes COVID-19. The County
targeted the businesses, it said, because
customers don’t wear face coverings while
they dine and drink.
El Segundo immediately objected with a
letter to the Board of Supervisors asking them
to overrule the COVID-19 order. Left in place,
the new temporary restrictions “will further
devastate businesses in our community to
the point of no return,” Mayor Boyles wrote
on November 24. “Our business community
has expressed concern that these restrictions
will hurt already struggling businesses, who
have made extraordinary efforts to invest in
personal protective equipment to comply with
all the Health Officer Orders to keep their
customers and employees safe.”
The city’s plea for relief didn’t fall on deaf
ears. Supervisor Janice Hahn agreed with
El Segundo’s position that the data doesn’t
support the restaurant-dining prohibition. And
she’s worried about the employees who will
lose hours or be laid off, without a safety
net right before the holidays. “The proposed
policy to arbitrarily close outdoor dining
abandons our restaurant workers who will be
laid off right before the holidays. Without a
new Federal stimulus package, the County
will not be able to get them the support they
need,” Hahn wrote in an op-ed article.
A small fraction of the known cases of
COVID-19 - 3.1 percent - were contracted
at a food or drink establishment, according
to figures from the County Public Health
Department. After hearing from El Segundo
and other cities, Hahn voted to overturn the
on-site dining ban. However, the majority of
supervisors backed the public-health order.
COVID-19 cases traced back to restaurants
and bars countywide accounted for 70 of 2,257
confirmed cases found from 204 “outbreak”
locations, Boyles stressed to the supervisors
and county public health officer Barbara Ferrer.
“We understand the need to find the right
path to reducing exposure and that difficult
sacrifices must be made, but let’s not put this
on the backs of our restaurants, breweries and
bars that have shown compliance to remain
open,” the mayor added.
Though lobbying the county supervisors
last week, El Segundo’s mayor and Mayor
Pro-Tem Chris Pimentel turned their efforts
to a collective effort by South Bay cities to
persuade the region’s public-health officials
either to lift their order early or not renew
it come December 17. Boyles and Pimentel
participated in a video link meeting Monday
night hosted by the South Bay Cities Council
of Governments. The purpose of the meeting
is to discuss the restaurant and brewery
dining ban and read what the different cities
thought about the prohibition. The consensus
was unanimous, even from Inglewood, where
COVID-19 cases and deaths are disproportionately
higher, that the food and beverage
businesses aren’t the cause of the surge in
new cases and hospitalizations.
Randy Collins, emergency management
coordinator for El Segundo, told the council
on Tuesday, “this might be the worst day of
the pandemic so far.” State, county and federal
health officials predict the spike in COVID-
19-related hospitalizations could overwhelm
intensive care units and local hospitals by
Christmas week. The case count in Los
Angeles shot up on Tuesday by 7,593, and
there were more people hospitalized, and in
intensive care than the week before, county
figures showed. El Segundo showed four new
cases, bringing the city’s active cases to 30,
heading into December. Active cases include
people in quarantine after testing positive in
the past two weeks.
Los Angeles County health officials relied
on a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control, which Collins questioned as a
reliable basis for imposing outdoor dining
restrictions countywide. CDC researchers in
September analyzed adults with COVID-19
symptoms and concluded those who dined
at restaurants were twice as likely to develop
symptoms as people who didn’t venture out
to restaurants, bars, breweries, or wineries.
However, the study did not drill down into
whether those who caught COVID-19 had
eaten indoors or outdoors, Collins explained.
The study neglected to consider other activities
besides public dining that could have led
to the virus transmission.
Individual council members sent a message
for support to the owners of local food and
beverage establishments. Councilman Scot
Nicol reminded residents they don’t have to
See City Council, page 9