San Diego County Shutters Bars, Breweries, and Wineries That Don’t Serve Food; Restaurants Must Close at 10 p.m.

UPDATE Wednesday, July 1: Although San Diego County is not one of the 19 counties, including Los Angeles and Orange County, mandated by the state today to immediately cease indoor dining, it seems as if it’s just a matter of time. Due to elevated COVID-19 metrics, officials said that San Diego will likely be moved onto the California coronavirus watch list by July 3 and subsequently be eligible for the same government restrictions starting Monday, July 6, which means that restaurants could soon be restricted to just outdoor dining and takeout service for three weeks.

UPDATE Tuesday, June 30: At today’s briefing, the county announced a new curfew for restaurants and bars that serve food with alcohol which must adjust their operating hours and close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The order will be effective Wednesday morning. Of the 26 current active community outbreaks, six are directly related to bars or restaurants.

After just being given the dispensation to reopen on June 12, bars in San Diego are being ordered to close again. As San Diego County continues to break daily records in positive COVID-19 cases, officials have announced that bars, breweries, and wineries that don’t serve food must shutter by Tuesday, June 30 at midnight. For now, wineries can continue to offer service outdoors.

Other updates from the June 29 media briefing include the reinstatement of an order that mandates that alcohol can only be consumed while customers are simultaneously eating meals and can’t be ordered alone and a new measure that says that all patrons at bars, breweries, and wineries that do serve food can only consume that food and drink while seated at a table.

This comes on the heels of Sunday’s announcement by California Governor Gavin Newsom that ordered bars to close in seven counties, including Los Angeles County, to close. San Diego was not part of that mandate.

Local public health officer Wilma Wooten, who implored residents to wear face coverings and follow social distancing guidelines, said there have again been recent community outbreaks (defined as three or more COVID-19 cases from people in different households who were together in a single location) related to restaurants and bars; these cases currently count for 27 percent of all active community setting outbreaks. Wooten said the county will not be reopening any new businesses for the duration of July.