Local health departments continue enforcing safety guidelines as restaurants expand capacity
MARYLAND – Maryland restaurants are now allowed to operate at 75% capacity per Governor Larry Hogan’s order. But the burden continues to be on local health departments to enforce that as restaurants adapt to the new regulations. “The challenge has been mainly how busy it’s gotten because essentially every restaurant had to change the way that they operate. So it’s been difficult both for them as operators and for us,” said Licensed Environmental Health Specialist, Wicomico County Health Department Joseph Spangler.
The Wicomico County Health Department says they had to scramble to make sure that restaurants are complying with guidelines at the start of the pandemic. However, they add that the move to increase capacity to 75% won’t be as hard, since it’s not that big of a change. Even with the new order, health department officials say that restaurants must keep tables six feet apart and close off every other booth if they have them.
But it’s the closing down of every other booth that the Maryland Restaurant Association says hurts them. They want restrictions loosened, including being able to seat parties up to ten people at one table and use plexiglass barriers to separate tables. “Even the CDC guidelines allow for physical barriers to be used in restaurants. So the restaurants in Maryland just want the opportunity to be able to use these barriers to accommodate more people safely,” said President and CEO of MRA Marshall Weston.
The Wicomico County Health Department says that even with those barriers, there’s a high risk of contracting COVID-19. “Because everyone’s breathing the same air and because everyone has masks off when they’re eating food, it’s considered still one of the more high risk things you can do,” said Spangler.
But even with some restaurants being at odds with the regulations, the good news is that health department officials on the Eastern Shore say they’ve had to issue very few warnings overall. In a statement, the Worcester County Health Department said “The majority of restaurants have been in compliance with the COVID-19 requirements. When violations are found either during routine or complaint-based inspections education is given and the violations are corrected. Only a few facilities have been continuously non-compliant and have received closure orders.”
The Worcester County Health Department also says they aren’t planning any crackdown on restaurants this fall because they’ve been performing inspections all spring and summer.
