Before they were forced to cease outdoor dining, many restaurants invested in equipment to create a more pleasant dining experience. (photo by Cameron Kiszla)

The pandemic outlook for California is improving, and on Jan. 25, Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted statewide stay-at-home orders. In Los Angeles County, COVID-19 is similarly lessening, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Barbara Ferrer told the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 26.

“We’re encouraged particularly by the significant reduction, at this point, in daily cases … Our death rate, unfortunately, remains very high … We’re still going to see a high number of deaths for a couple of weeks to come, but I’m hoping that as we get into the month of February, our death rate will also come down significantly,” Ferrer said.

With the numbers improving, Los Angeles County has started the reopening process, with hair and nail salons, multifamily gatherings and other formerly prohibited activities allowed to resume after the state order was lifted. More restrictions will ease tomorrow, Jan. 29, including those on outdoor dining for restaurants, breweries and wineries.

“While these current trends are encouraging and we’re pleased and we’re grateful for the work people have done to get here … we do need to move through the next few weeks with a lot of caution,” Ferrer said.

West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath said she’s “very happy to see that we can reopen aspects of our economy that have been closed indefinitely … but this is not a time to lose focus on preventing community spread.”

“We have to remain vigilant in keeping people safe and we know how to do that, by keeping our distance, by practicing social distancing, washing our hands and wearing masks and doing all of those things that we know help us,” Horvath said.

Todd Johnson, president and CEO of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, said the business community is “excited” about the opportunity to resume operations, though he echoed the calls for vigilance against COVID-19.

“The majority of these restaurants are barely making it, they’re [hanging by] threads … It’s going to take years to dig out of debt,” Johnson said. “That said, this is the beginning of a movement in the right direction. We need to continue to stress the importance of social distancing, wearing a mask, wash your hands and when you can, get the vaccine.”

Now-empty dining patios may be brimming with customers starting on Jan. 29. (photo by Cameron Kiszla)

Genevieve Morrill, president and CEO of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said many businesses have been hurt by the “open, close, open, close” nature of the previous COVID-19 restrictions, and she agreed with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ emphasis on harm reduction, instead of prohibiting all gatherings, during the Jan. 26 meeting. Harm reduction acknowledges that if restrictions are too stringent, people will continue to gather illicitly and, often, in less safe ways than regulated outdoor dining and gatherings, Morrill said.

“What’s being understood now, finally, which we’ve been saying all along, is that by closing the outdoor dining, it has the opposite effect. It has to do with social behavior. It pushes people who’ve been isolated for so long into unsafe social-engagement environments,” Morrill said.

Morrill suggested that governments at all levels look for long-term solutions, such as widespread rapid testing and certification programs to ensure that businesses are informed about and complying with best practices for pandemic safety.

Rana Ghadban, president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said the Hollywood chamber has been working to not only ensure more information and data on decisions by government agencies – “[The lack of transparency is] incredibly frustrating for these businesses, who are trying their best to meet these regulations from all levels of government,” she said – but also to educate their members on what help is available and what they can do to keep their employees and customers safe. The chamber has hosted virtual events, including webinars on the Paycheck Protection Program and ppeunite.org, which provides free personal protective equipment for small businesses in Los Angeles County.

“It’s a great organization that has helped us secure PPE supplies for local businesses,” Ghadban said. “We’ve partnered with them and hosted an event and distributed PPE supplies for over 800 businesses in Hollywood. We’re looking to host potentially another event with them in February, but their website is a great resource for businesses to sign up for an event that’s happening and help businesses with the free PPE. It includes hand sanitizer, face shields and masks.”

Ghadban said the Hollywood chamber is also advocating for Assembly Bill 62, which would provide tax credits for some pandemic-related expenses for individuals and companies.

“This bill will alleviate some of that financial burden that these regulations have caused in order to comply with COVID-19 regulations,” Ghadban said.

In Beverly Hills, Johnson said the chamber is advocating for some of the temporary business-relief measures, such as the OpenBH program that lets businesses operate outdoors, to be extended or even be made permanent.

“The businesses we’ve lost will be replaced, and we want to get these businesses in these facilities, operating with all the proper permits and the city wants this, too. They want to make it as efficient as possible. I’m confident that we’ll see much positive come out of this pandemic,” Johnson said.

Ultimately, however, businesses will need customers, and Johnson said consumers need assurance that they will be able to safely shop and dine at local businesses again, which might only come once the vaccine has been widely administered.

“That will in turn help give more confidence to society to come out,” Johnson said. “I think it will be interesting to see, [once] restaurants are open, will people come out and eat? I think they will because everyone has been stir crazy sitting at home, but a percentage of people won’t. That’s who we need to get to.”

Even though many challenges remain ahead, Johnson said he is confident that economic recovery is on its way.

“I would hope and encourage everyone to make the decision on the following: the glass is either half full or half empty. I opt to make it half full, as we do have better times coming,” Johnson said. “We are resilient and we will get by this and learn a great deal from this.”