Letters to the Editor: L.A. County’s dining ban unfairly punishes restaurants

To the editor: The decision by Los Angeles County to extend the dining ban to include any outdoor seating is a death blow to many restaurants, whose business in the best of times is already known for its high mortality rate.

The injustice here is that the high incidence of new infections could be due to “Covidiots” who continue to attend superspreader events and view mask wearing as a political statement.

Stop making restaurants the scapegoat for the true source of the pandemic surge.

Ron Levin, Pacific Palisades

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To the editor: I commend The Times for its compassionate coverage of the devastation that the three-week shutdown of outdoor dining will wreak on restuarant owners and their employees.

Regardless of what side one is on regarding the closures, it should be universally agreed that these restaurant owners who poured thousands of dollars into establishing outdoor dining and now will be missing out on their peak season revenue deserve government financial assistance to sustain their existence.

Anything short of that would be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

Louis J. Shapiro, Los Angeles

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To the editor: It has been repeatedly stated by numerous public health authorities that the primary reason for this surge is private social gatherings such as parties, dinners and other small events.

And the solution to this is closing restaurants to all in-person dining? What good is that going to do besides destroy the livelihoods of the owners and their employees?

Officials can’t think of any effective solution, so instead we get virus theater.

Sandra Willard, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Of course we are failing in our efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. One only need look at the photo in Sunday’s print edition of The Times to understand that there are still people who wear their masks under their nose.

The photo of a man getting his temperature taken at LAX while his masks sits under his nose says it all. A mask under the nose is good for nothing.

People who wear their masks this way don’t seem to care about anyone but themselves. We will not get through this crisis until we all mask up properly.

Francine Oschin, Encino

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To the editor: I can understand people protesting more COVID-19 restrictions on businesses, but not when they don’t wear masks. They are the reason for the uptick in cases.

Susan Greenberg. Los Angeles