MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County joined the rest of Maryland in lifting its ban on indoor dining Sunday. Just in time for couples to celebrate Valentine's Day amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county council voted 7-2 Tuesday to pass an executive order to lift the county’s ban. But did stipulate some restrictions.
Restrictions include capping indoor dining at 25% capacity, not serving alcohol after 10 p.m., and imposing a 90-minute time limit for diners. County Executive Marc Elrich amended the original proposal from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, and pushed back the start date to Valentine's Day from Saturday, Feb. 14.
With Valentine's Day being one of the busiest days for the restaurant industry, managing partners at All Set in Silver Spring said Sunday was an exciting and busy first day of having diners back inside.
“From a kitchen perspective they're getting their butts kicked because we're still doing to-go food," Edward Reavis, All Set's Chef and Partner said. "But everybody's excited back there, they're excited to be busy.”
Reavis and Jennifer Meltzer are managing partners at the Silver Spring restaurant and bar.
Meltzer said she was so eager to greet diners she met the first guests at the door, excited to share their Valentine's Day specials.
"It's just been good energy," Meltzer said. "I understood the caution but when everyone else around is allowing it, it just felt like it was time that we opened and we did it on Valentine's Day!”
Reavis said since the pandemic started sales have dropped 70% in a business he said is already hard to make money in.
“We’ve trimmed some staff to be honest, and front of the house mostly because we didn't have any need for them, unfortunately. So now we opened up today and we’re trying to retain everyone again because they haven't been here, so that's been a huge juggle I think of everything, the staff, having to lay people off and bring them back, all those different things.”
Meltzer said although they are able to allow diners back inside it's not going to be an immediate return to normal.
"It's going to be a long road to recovery," Meltzer said. "The damage over the past year has just been tremendous. Luckily between Montgomery County and Maryland grants that we've been able to apply for that has helped, but every little bit helps. I would encourage everyone to continue to support their neighborhood local independent restaurants because it's nice to be open but it's still pretty scary and sort of tenuous as we, you know, go day to day.”
The idea of reopening indoor dining, in general, drew applause from owners who have been hit hard by the pandemic, but brought sharp criticism from two council members.
"Reopening indoor dining on Valentine's Day flies in the face of public health," Councilmember Will Jawando said before the vote, reiterating his strong connections to indoor dining.
In a tweet, Jawando instead encouraged council members to look at what could be done to bring students back for in-person learning.
"Our priority must be reopening our schools considering the harm to our students and to do that we must keep transmission rates down," he tweeted.
Councilmember Craig Rice backed Jawando voting no on the executive order.
County officials have repeatedly said indoor dining is not safe.
“I know for a fact that dining indoors without a face covering is a dangerous activity," Dr. Earl Stoddard, Montgomery's director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security said. "There are studies across the country that have demonstrated that time and time again."
Stoddard said Elrich has decided the damage caused by the economic harm may be exceeding the harm from a public health perspective.
Since the county implemented the indoor dining ban, health officials said there’s been a drop in COVID-19 cases.
“We didn't say the dining was the sole factor for the lower numbers but we think collectively we've done a lot of things and are more protective over time," Elrich said. "And if you look at our charts, you look at the state's charts, that for months we've been toward the lower half of the state more in line with the smaller counties."
Elrich said the county’s COVID-19 numbers are similar, if not a little below, what they were when the county stopped indoor dining.
