VENTURA, California – Ventura County public health leaders said they agreed to suspend the regional home order – despite the record number of patients in last week’s intensive care unit.
On Monday, restaurant owners in Ventura County were preparing outdoor dining areas to reopen, but time was not cooperating.
“It’s been difficult,” said Jan Holguin, owner of Casa Bella steakhouse in Ventura. “It was ruined four times. We had to replace all the plastic walls that protect it from the weather and everything on top exploded. It took us a whole day to get back to where we were. “
Ventura County now returns to the state’s color-coded reopening plan, specifically the most restrictive purple layer. In this layer, restaurants, gyms and wineries can once again reopen outdoors.
“Believe me, we are super grateful and we are super excited about the opening, but it was a little confusing because one minute was about cases and one minute about ICU beds,” said Holguin. “What is that? You know it’s worrying that we’ve been closed for seven weeks and there hasn’t been a consistent theme.”
Last week, Ventura County reported a record of 91 patients in the ICU, but state projections show that capacity is growing in southern California.
“We discussed this with our health officer,” said Rigo Vargas, who is the Director of Public Health for the municipality of Ventura. “We determined that our numbers are going in the right direction. Our case rate, while still high, is trending downward and therefore we know that many other businesses are suffering and we need good news locally and therefore we also wanted to be in line with the state.
However, if the cases increase, the request for stay at home will return.
“Until now, we must obtain collective immunity with vaccines, that is, in a few months,” said Vargas. “An outbreak can happen at any time and therefore, while we are all tired of hearing what to do when it comes to COVID, we really can’t let our guard down.”
Despite the climate, restaurant owners are eager to return to some kind of normalcy.
“We are going to open tonight and tomorrow must be good, so we are going to open tomorrow, and then on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we will play by ear and see,” said Holguin. “We will find a way.”