More Layoffs Expected After Restrictions Targeting Indoor Activities Hit San Diego

Speaker 1: 00:00 Some businesses in San Diego are feeling the pain of the reopening roll back more than others. Tuesday was the first day of closures for indoor operations at restaurants, tasting rooms, movie theaters, and museums. The closures were in response to a spike in COVID positive patients that got San Diego placed on the state's COVID-19 watch list. The indoor operations band is supposed to last only for the next three weeks, but some San Diego businesses are wondering if they can last that long. Joining me is KPBS reporter, Matt Hoffman and Matt. Welcome. Hey Maureen, you spoke with a restaurant owner who was just getting used to the previous restrictions on bars and restaurants, and now has to go back to take out who did you speak with? Speaker 2: 00:46 Yeah, I spoke to Eric Christianson. Who's the owner of guava beach bar and grill it's right there in mission beach, right off of mission Boulevard. So a very, very busy area. Um, obviously area that relies on a lot of tourists. So especially right now with the lack of tourists, they are definitely hurting. Um, but yeah, you know, just getting used to the previous restrictions in terms of having to close early at 10:00 PM, um, and limiting guests in there, you know, requiring mass at everything. And he said that they were making it work. He said that his dining was down maybe about 25 to 30%. And keep in mind, this is like, it's a, a brew pub bar kind of Tiki theme and margaritas and stuff like that. Um, so very like mission beachy, I guess you could say, right? Just like a block from the beach. Um, and the owner, Eric Christianson says, you know, it's been, it's been tough, but they've been making it work. I mean, they're dying in with these restrictions was down 25, 30% in recent weeks, which is doable. But when he says take out just isn't really doable. Speaker 1: 01:34 So the business can't survive with just takeout, Speaker 2: 01:37 Right? He says, he'll be down about 80%. And he says, basically, you know, if he's not, if he can't get some tables out in front of his restaurant, so he doesn't have a patio or a parking lot. So it's hard for him to put tables out there and get customers to do some outdoor dining. And, you know, basically he was saying, look, if I can't get any tables out in front, I might just have to shut down for these three weeks and sort of weather the storm because it just might not make sense. Now he did say he has a lot of food in his cooler, so he definitely wants to get rid of that. Um, but it just might not make sense to stay open if he can't get tables out in front. Speaker 1: 02:05 So mayor Faulkner's executive order yesterday fast-tracking approval for restaurants to be able to operate outside dining areas, you know, on the street may or may not help some restaurants like guava beach bar and grill. So what about the staff at this restaurant? Speaker 2: 02:23 Yeah. You know, I'm obviously the owner, Eric, he said that, you know, once this went to effect, they had zero customers for dining and they could do any outdoor dining. Um, so he had to already cut his servers, basically cutting his staff down. Here's the owner talking about just what they're having to go through in terms of laying off staff right now. Speaker 3: 02:37 Yeah. My staff sat down at least cut by 50% now. And so then you got to figure out who wants to work. Who's going to go back on unemployment. You know what, that 650 buck incentive in there per week. You know, a lot of staff, I was fortunate. My staff is great. They all wanted to get back to work, but I don't blame them. You know, trying to figure out these new changes and doing takeout only that's that what we were designed to do. We're not a take out we're for in house dining. You know, it's about the experience sitting down, enjoying our service and our food and our drinks, Speaker 1: 03:06 Matt, should we expect to see layoffs across the County because of the new closures? Speaker 2: 03:11 Yeah. You know, I talked to the San Diego workforce partnership and I'm keeping my earlier at the beginning of this pandemic restaurants for dying and they were shut down, two bars were closed. Um, and the workforce partnership that businesses don't have to report layoffs to them, but they said specifically for the restaurant bar industry, they got about 18,000 layoff notices around April and March when this was first happening. And they're expecting to see layoffs again, you know, but not necessarily at the level they were seeing before. Here's Rachel Murphy, Farland with the San Diego workforce partnership. Speaker 4: 03:39 I don't know that it will be necessarily as significant as the first Mmm. The first round of layoffs that happened in San Diego because it's not across the board as far as, uh, closures are concerned, but it will be significant again. Um, and three weeks, it's not nothing, especially to restaurants that are trying to stay open businesses that are trying desperately to stay open as well. And for the workers that are impacted good, Speaker 1: 04:01 The closure is expected to be lifted in three weeks, so, okay. It'll still be July. It'll still be summertime could restaurants, like Wawirra still recoup their losses. Speaker 2: 04:12 You know, it's going to be interesting because places like WABA beach bar and grill July is their busiest month. I mean, the owner was telling me like 300% more sales they'll do in July then they'll do like in February. Um, and a lot of that's based on the tourist economy. So are they going to be able to recoup their losses? Probably not this year. I mean, for a lot of these businesses by the beach, the summer months can make or break their businesses. So this year might be a loss for a lot of these businesses, especially not having a lot of these tourists in the area. Speaker 1: 04:38 And just to round out the picture, the owner you spoke with Eric Christiansen has personal knowledge about how infectious this virus is it doesn't he? Speaker 2: 04:47 Yeah, he actually contracted the Corona virus himself. And unfortunately he did pass it along to his young daughter and his wife. So now he's worried about them. He himself has recovered. Uh, but here's a story about how he contracted the virus or how he got it from a friend, Speaker 3: 05:01 You know, have to be honest, I let my guard down. I had a meeting with a friend of mine and, you know, we did a couple bro hugs cause I hadn't seen him for a while. And uh, we sat and chatted for about a half hour that evening. He felt ill. He got tested the next day. Uh, I got his results the following day and he reached out to me and said, Hey man, you've been one of the people that I was, uh, unfortunately, you know, exposed. And uh, so I went and got tested the next day. He got my results the following day and I tested positive and I pretty much knew cause I woke up with a fever and a headache and all the signs and symptoms and you know, it wasn't that bad for me. I'm very lucky and fortunate so that, uh, you know, after four or five days of a fever, I started feeling better. And then you just kind of navigate, there were some stomach issues and things. So, uh, you know, fatigue and whatnot and residual things. But after about, you know, seven or eight days, I had been fever free for long enough. And I actually was able to come off quarantine yesterday for the first day. So Speaker 2: 05:51 Yeah. Now, uh, Christianson says, you know, look, that was just a slip up on his part. He's been following all the rules and he didn't think that that just one interaction would get him the virus. It did. He just wants people to know that, look it is contagious. And to just take all the precautions, you can work with them when they say, Hey, you have to have a master come in. Um, just, just work with them. Okay. Then I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Matt Hoffman, Matt. Thank you. Thanks Maureen.