Judge directs stinging rebuke at LA County for outdoor dining ban

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Superior Court judge has said it is “just shocking” that LA County had not “seriously” considered the impact of outdoor dining on the COVID-19 pandemic before banning it indefinitely on November 25, the LA Times reports. Restricting the ban to just three weeks, LA County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ruled Tuesday that county officials must carry out a risk-benefit analysis if they want to extend the order beyond December 16.

The LA County local ban on outdoor dining is currently a moot point in light of Sunday’s three-week regional stay-at-home order banning restaurant dining across most of California. The regional ban was triggered when ICU capacity fell below 15%.

Nevertheless, Chalfant said in his ruling that LA County should not be allowed to impose its local ban indefinitely.
“In nine months [LA County health officials] have not seriously looked at outdoor dining, and then … impose a restriction preventing outdoor dining,” Chalfant said. “That’s just shocking. The issue here is, is shutting down outdoor dining going to help in any significant way, or is it just something to do?” he said.

California’s health and human services secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in a statement Tuesday that the purpose of banning outdoor dining was to encourage people to stay home. “Now’s not the time to spend additional time outside of your household, potentially mixing with others, transmitting the illness far and wide,” Ghaly said.

California has reported 1.43M confirmed cases and 20,238 COVID-19 related deaths. The state has seen a sharp uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

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