We opened up yesterday despite the county telling us not to. To keep it as brief as possible, in California counties are the health jurisdiction. Counties can either adhere to State standards or apply for what’s known as a “variance.” That gives a county some wiggle room when health indicators are heading in the right direction. Every county in California applied for a variance except two - Imperial and Alameda. My bar/restaurant is in Alameda County. State released new guidelines on Thursday. Despite Alameda being okay for the most part, we had to adhere to the new stringent standards because the idiots at the county never filed variance paperwork.
We were told to close again. Oakland said fuck the county. We’re not enforcing these new rules given they have nothing to do with health, but rather administrative oversight (or lack-there-of). A few other cities did the same. So we opened.
Four cops came by around 1:00. I was like, dammit. They sat down and had lunch.
