Sacramento to close indoor restaurant dining, movie theaters as coronavirus cases surge
Sacramento County health officials will order movie theaters to close and indoor dining at restaurants to stop once again, likely effective Thursday, following an urgent request from the governor for counties with rapidly rising coronavirus rates to reduce interactions among residents heading into the Fourth of July weekend.
The county is one of 19 statewide that Gov. Gavin Newsom targeted Wednesday for immediate closures of gathering sites and businesses, including bowling alleys, wineries, card rooms, indoor zoos and other family entertainment areas.
Newsom said he was calling for the shutdowns to help “get us through the Fourth of July weekend,” when Californians are going to be tempted to get out of the house, increasing the risk of new COVID-19 cases.
The new closures are indefinite in duration. County health officials say they expect the retrenchment to remain in place at least three weeks.
The governor’s directive allows restaurants to remain open for outdoor dining, take-out and delivery.
“From a science-base, it makes sense” to close down indoor activity at businesses that serve as group gathering spots, Sacramento County health chief Peter Beilenson said. “We’ll do the new order tomorrow.”
Officials at the Sacramento Zoo, a mainly outdoor facility, announced on Wednesday their facility will remain open.
The governor didn’t ask for the new closures in Yolo, Placer, El Dorado, Nevada, Yuba or Sutter counties – none of which are on the state’s “watch list” of counties that have been struggling to contain new virus outbreaks.
However, Yolo officials said they too will voluntarily take the same steps as Sacramento in the next day or two. That county, like many, has seen a record spike in infections the last two weeks.
Sacramento and numerous other counties, including Los Angeles, Solano, Santa Clara, and Orange, are among the areas that have seen a June spike in infection numbers and rates.
Sacramento County’s infection rate last week jumped beyond the 5-percent positive test level that the World Health Organization has recommended is unsafe for businesses to be open.
The county’s infection rate, now at seven positives per 100 tests, has been climbing steady for weeks and is at its highest level in Sacramento County since early April.
The county registered two days this week with more than 200 new cases, by the far the most the county has seen during the epidemic, which hit here in early March. Hospitals in the county now report treating 98 patients, the most they have had to deal with during the epidemic, and far higher than the seven hospitalizations at the low point one month ago.
Of those, 28 are in intensive care, leaving only 63 ICU beds available in the county, a margin that has increasingly worried health officials who say one of the key goals at the moment is to avoid overwhelming hospitals.
The surge has coincided with the progressive easing of the county’s “stay at home” order over the past few weeks. Most county businesses had, until today, been given the go-ahead to reopen.
County health chief Beilenson said Sacramento’s rising virus infection numbers have been due mainly to family gatherings in homes for birthdays and graduations. But he said he agrees that stronger steps are appropriate. He said he would issue a new county health order on Thursday.
Economic loss from COVID-19 closures
The closure of indoor dining at restaurants could create another heavy hit for the economy.
About 78,000 area residents worked in restaurants or bars before the economy shut down in March. About 33,000 of them lost their jobs in April, although payrolls rebounded slightly as the economy started to revive.
Nonetheless, about 26,000 restaurant and bar employees were still out of work as of mid-May, the latest figures available, and represent a main reason why the region’s unemployment rate has shot up to 13.6 percent.
“It’s definitely a step backwards; it is a big deal,” said economist Jeff Michael of the University of the Pacific. “It’s going to be difficult for those restaurants and those employees who’ve gone back to work.”
Patrick Mulvaney of Mulvaney’s Building & Loan in midtown, one of Sacramento’s signature restaurants, sympathized with government officials trying to get a handle on the pandemic but sounded frustrated at the reversal.
“As a business owner, you feel whipsawed .... The whole community feels whipsawed,” he said. He added that he was checking with employees to make sure they’re still comfortable working as COVID-19 infections are rising.
Sacramento County restaurants were takeout-only from March 17 to May 22, when they received county approval to reopen dining rooms under a 12-page set of guidelines. With no enforcement, though, it was up to each restaurant to determine whether they’d follow rules such as requiring servers and customers to wear masks.
Bars in the county were closed entirely until June 12. On Monday, Beilenson ordered them shut down at Newsom’s request.
Restaurant owners said they were stunned by Newsom’s announcement.
“I’m very sad, very shocked at the news that we have to shut down again for indoors,” said Dao Ut, owner of Pho Bac Hoa Viet restaurant in Sacramento’s Little Saigon neighborhood. The restaurant had reopened for indoor dining three weeks ago, and “we had momentum,” he said.
Hong Kong Islander had just reopened its colossal dining room for dim sum Wednesday morning, cutting back to a mere 18 tables with new, easy-to-clean chairs. The restaurant at 5675 Freeport Blvd. has lost 80 to 90 percent of its revenue from a lack of dine-in service and canceled banquets since the pandemic began in February, owner Kandy Lau said.
Yet Lau was glad to hear Beilenson and Newsom were closing Sacramento County dining rooms. She hasn’t been going out to eat herself over concern of COVID-19 transmission in restaurants, and asked people to be patient – and order takeout.
“It’s good to hear that, really. Everyone can just stay home again and try to prevent increasing COVID-19 (cases),” Lau said. “It’s hit our business really badly, but reopening could create more COVID-19 (cases) and we don’t want to do that. If the governor suggests that’s what we should do, then I want to do that.”
Still, some worry the restrictions could be a death knell for some restaurants that managed to scrape by during the last lockdown. At least 20 restaurants and cafes have closed for good in the Sacramento region during the coronavirus pandemic, including the Sacramento flagship Biba Restaurant.
“We finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel” when restaurants were able to reopen for dine-in, said Isel Gutierrez, the manager of Las Islitas Mariscos in Galt. “I think it would hit us hard again to go back.”
“We have a lot of small businesses in town that are not big franchises, they’re family owned like we are,” she added. “Some wouldn’t be able to survive.”
Movie theaters, card rooms shut down
Although most movie theaters were on the verge of reopening, Newsom’s announcement had little practical effect. That’s because the major chains, Regal and Cinemark, had already said they were postponing their reopening to accommodate changes in Hollywood release schedules. Cinemark theaters now won’t open until July 24, Regal on July 31.
On the other hand, card rooms such as the Limelight in midtown Sacramento had their reopening plans put on hold by the governor. Limelight co-owner John Mikacich said he had been meeting with contractors about installing acrylic shields to protect card dealers and customers, with an expected reopening of July 10.
“I’m trying to figure out how we find a path forward right now,” he said.
Although the shutdown is likely to last three weeks, UOP economist Michael said the implications for the economy could be longer-lasting, simply because it’s likely the governor will proceed cautiously about making further progress on reopening businesses.
“We’re going to be kind of moving sideways for a while,” Michael said.
Area government officials say the recent surge in COVID-19 infections have left them with few easy answers. Their rising caseloads haven’t originated with reopened restaurants or bars – but those are the venues that they can more easily control.
“Most of these cases are being spread by in-home gatherings,” said Mayor Chris Cabaldon of West Sacramento, where infections have spiked in the past week. “The challenge there is we don’t regulate those. When you want to have a party for your daughter’s graduation or it’s grandma’s birthday, you don’t need a permit.”
At the same time, officials believe the reopening of restaurants and bars has made many residents complacent – and more likely to plan large private gatherings with little regard to social distancing.
“We haven’t linked anything back, say, to restaurants or gyms,” Yolo County public health director Brian Vaughn said last week. But people are “letting down their guard, feeling comfortable,” he said.
With the Fourth of July weekend looming, area officials are doing what they can to crack down on large gatherings. Practically every public fireworks show from Woodland to Lake Tahoe has been scrapped. Rancho Cordova is planning “drive-in” fireworks events at which people are expected to stay in their cars.
Sacramento County will allow the American River Parkway to stay open but is dispatching additional park rangers on hand to encourage social distancing, said county spokesman Ken Casparis.
Sacramento city and county officials say they are refusing to hand out street-closure permits for block parties. The county has closed picnic and barbecue facilities at its parks. The city says it won’t hand out permits for gatherings at city parks and has canceled six permits that had been handed out before the initial stay-at-home orders were issued.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 12:16 PM.