LA plans to restart indoor dining next week. Restaurant staff have mixed feelings

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Indoor dining stools remain closed at Grand Central Market during the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 3, 2021. LA County is poised to restart indoor dining the week of March 15, 2021. Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters.

Today LA County restaurants received the green light to reopen indoors at 25% capacity as soon as March 15.  

“I think it's way too soon. If outdoor dining is any indication of how people are behaving, then I'm just absolutely horrified to think about what's going to happen when we add more on top of that and open up indoors,” says one woman who works at two popular LA restaurants.

Meanwhile the owner of Supply and Demand, a bar/restaurant/music venue in Long Beach, is cautiously optimistic. “We're happy that it seems like Biden's really doing his job, getting the vaccines out there. … The mayor's trying to get it going in Long Beach with the vaccines too. So we think it's going to turn around. … We got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” he says.