Gov. Newsom considers imposing statewide curfew as virus spreads out of control
Citing what he called an unprecedented spike in new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the state is pulling an "emergency brake'' on economic activity. Newsom also said he's considering implementing a statewide curfew.
The governor has not said what time the potential curfew would be, but did say he's looking at whether it could help prevent community spread and who it would affect.
Some business owners in downtown Palm Springs said they're worried it will be them that's negatively impacted.
"I don't like it; I'm not happy about it; I do understand it," said Mindy Reed, owner of Zin American Bistro and Revel Public House in Palm Springs. She agreed the state of coronavirus in California is concerning. "We all know something has to happen. We need to do something so that we don't have to completely shut down."
The city of Palm Springs currently has a curfew set for midnight. But similar to adding extra space for outdoor dining, the longer a restaurant is open, the more revenue it can pull in.
Reed said she's worried an earlier curfew would actually help coronavirus spread.
"Making the timeframe smaller is going to force more people to eat at the same time, which is the whole goal of outside dining and everything is to have people distanced," Reed said.
Palm Springs Mayor Geoff Kors said restaurants have worked hard to meet coronavirus requirements. He said if the curfew were implemented, he hopes the state would provide funding to help enforce it.
"I'd want to see the data that shows that outdoor restaurants are an issue," Kors said. "That's a major obligation of the city, to enforce the rules to keep people healthy and safe so we can have our economy reopened, and we're doing that in Palm Springs. But that takes a lot of resources, so we really could use help from the state as they impose these rules."
Reed said the hardest part is trying to prepare for what Gov. Newsom is going to do next. "It's the stress of being in a constant state of not knowing what's going to happen. I really wish that everybody would just follow the rules that we have, everybody would wear a mask."
She added it has cooled off significantly since the summer and customers are dining out earlier in the day, a potential benefit if the curfew were to be imposed.
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