Backtrack On Reopening: Sacramento Restaurants Prepare To Close Doors After Gov. Orders Indoor Shutdown
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Amid an increase in COVID-19 cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering some businesses in 19 counties to stop indoor operations ahead of the holiday weekend.
"I'm going to ask for a refund on 2020 and get the 2021 model," said Oliver Ridgeway, Owner of Camden Spit & Larder in downtown Sacramento.
The statewide shutdown closed the restaurant down in March, and then his bar was destroyed by looters Memorial Day weekend. Now, Gov. Newsom is ordering all indoor dining to close in Sacramento County, again.
"It's another thing to add to the list," he said.
Restaurants are just one of several businesses the governor is ordering to close down indoor operations after seeing an "unsettling" surge in new coronavirus cases, weeks after most counties reopened businesses.
For Ridgeway, he's worried about his staff, who was just rehired and getting back to work.
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"We are servers to the community. We want to create experience. Being back doing that was what they wanted to do. Now, we're going to have to have another conversation," he said.
The governor is rolling out strike teams that will target non-compliant workplaces. Something he admits is tough to enforce. He's asking local counties to do their own share of enforcement, and if they don't, relief funds could be cut.
The strike team will be made up of agencies such as the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Cal/OSHA, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the California Highway Patrol.
Sacramento County public health officials expect the amended health order to be finished Thursday morning and say it should go into effect around noon.