California Governor, Gavin Newsom, has ordered indoor dining in California to close again as the state and other parts of the country have seen a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Dine-in restaurants along with wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, museums, and zoos must close their doors for indoor operations. Bars, brewpubs, breweries, and pubs must close for indoor services and outdoor services unless they are able to provide outdoor dine-in meals appropriately. While many counties in California were still closed for indoor dining, there were still a few counties allowing it.
States like Florida, Texas, and California have emerged as hotspots for the virus as the US has seen a rise in cases overall this month. So far, California is the only state to ban indoor dining completely for the time being.
Florida's largest county, Miami-Dade, closed restaurants for indoor dining last week, and Texas placed stricter limits on indoor restaurant occupancy in late June.
Dr. Fauci has consistently expressed concerns about indoor dining and bars and has called for them to be shut down for the time being.
"We've got to tighten things up. Close the bars, indoor restaurants, either no or make it such that there's very good seating," he said last week on The Wall Street Journal's podcast. "Make sure people wear masks, make sure they don't congregate in crowds, make sure they keep their distance. If you do those simple public health measures, guarantee that you'll see the curve come down. It's happened time and again in virtually every country that has done that."