Two SLO County supervisors want to give COVID violators a break — even as cases keep rising

It’s bad enough that San Luis Obispo County refuses to enforce COVID-19 rules.

Now two members of the county Board of Supervisors don’t even want state officials to enforce regulations aimed at keeping us safe.

North County supervisors John Peschong and Debbie Arnold sent a letter to the governor, essentially asking the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control — commonly known as the ABC — to back off on enforcing restrictions affecting restaurants, wineries and breweries.

The letter says the county encourages businesses to follow COVID rules, “but we must recognize the need for small business owners to resume operations to safeguard their livelihoods.”

We all recognize that need, but people are dying here, and there’s still far too few of us vaccinated against this scourge.

Helping businesses survive must be balanced against protecting people’s lives, and that requires at least minimal enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions that require masks, limit indoor capacity and, in the case of restaurants, ban indoor dining.

Yet the majority on the county Board of Supervisors hasn’t even given its staff the go-ahead to fine businesses that repeatedly break the rules.

While some cities are writing citations — the city of San Luis Obispo has been the most proactive in enforcement locally — others have been relying on voluntary compliance, with mixed results.

ABC enforcement

At least ABC agents have stepped into this vacuum; they’ve been conducting investigations in SLO County, issuing warnings and, in a couple of situations, even written citations.

They haven’t been hard-nosed about it; they’ve been giving violators the opportunity to comply before citing them.

Look at the statistics: At one point, 50 businesses with alcohol licenses were under investigation in San Luis Obispo County. Yet only two have been cited — Santa Maria Brewing Co., which has locations in Atascadero and Nipomo, and Iron Oaks Winery in Paso Robles.

Both were written up for allowing on-site consumption of alcohol when the regional shut-down order was in effect. That order has since been lifted.

It’s now up to the District Attorney’s Office to decide whether to prosecute — and that’s highly unlikely. DA Dan Dow has made it clear that he doesn’t want to criminalize businesses for trying to keep their doors open, as long as they operate in a manner that adequately protects customers.

We don’t disagree.

However, we believe medical experts should determine what constitutes operating in a safe manner — not the district attorney, and certainly not two county supervisors.

Their letter to the governor makes this claim: “It is clear that the continued operation of such businesses (restaurants, wineries and breweries) is not a known threat to public health or safety, particularly those following safety protocols to limit the spread of COVID-19.”

Particularly those following safety protocols?

Shouldn’t they all be following safety protocols?

To justify their disregard for the rules, Arnold and Peschong argue the state overstepped its bounds, especially when it banned outdoor dining. (That ban has since been lifted.)

What the two supervisors fail to acknowledge is that several restaurants — including restaurants in their districts — are unlawfully serving customers indoors, risking the health of their staff and their customers by putting unmasked people in close contact with each other indoors for extended amounts of time.

For instance, Santa Maria Brewing Co., one of the businesses cited by the ABC, advertised an “Epic” Super Bowl Party at its Atascadero location. “Come in and grab your spot for the game!” it advised on Facebook.

Its Nipomo location — which was also cited by the ABC — was still serving food and drinks indoors as recently as Tuesday night.

Is indoor dining safe?

Several studies have established a link between indoor dining and COVID transmissions. One of the most compelling comes from South Korea.

Here’s a summary of that study from Forbes: “Two diners were infected with COVID-19 from a third, asymptomatic diner who sat 21 feet away. The culprit, say the researchers, was the restaurant’s ceiling air conditioner, which provided direct air flow from the infected diner to the other two diners. ...”

With evidence like that, how can our local officials justify looking the other way when businesses blatantly defy the rules?

And how can they discourage other agencies from trying to gain compliance?

County supervisors should be grateful for the support from Alcoholic Beverage Control, instead of complaining to the governor in a letter he’s likely to ignore anyway.

This pandemic has already taken the lives of more than 200 SLO County residents, and it’s far from over.

Dining on an outdoor patio or parklet instead of inside a cozy, indoor restaurant is a small price to pay to reduce the spread — and it’s something our supervisors should be promoting.

Instead, Supervisor Peschong and Supervisor Arnold are undermining regulations and the officials attempting to enforce them in the name of helping small businesses.

If they really wanted to help, they would follow the lead of local cities like San Luis Obispo, by offering grants to businesses and assisting restaurants in setting up areas for outdoor dining.

We all want to get back to normal as quickly as possible, but engaging in behavior that’s known to spread the virus is only prolonging the pandemic.

We strongly urge the county Board of Supervisors to not only support the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in doing its job, but to also authorize county officials to begin enforcing COVID-19 regulations.

And for their part, Peschong and Arnold should either lend their voices to supporting their own Public Health Department — or button their lips.

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 5:15 AM.