A Los Angeles County supervisor dined outdoors last Tuesday just hours after voting to ban the practice over COVID-19 concerns, a new report said.
Sheila Kuehl, one of five elected supervisors that govern the county, was seen eating outside Il Forno Trattoria, an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica, Fox 11 reported.
Earlier that day at a board of supervisors meeting, Kuehl called the outdoor dining “a most dangerous situation” with regard to the possible spread of COVID-19.
Kuehl and two other members of the Board of Supervisors voted to ban outdoor dining at Los Angeles County’s 31,000 restaurants, which began last Wednesday, the report said.
“The servers are not protected from us, and they’re not protected from their other tables that they’re serving at that particular time, plus all the hours in which they’re working,” Kuehl had said, according to the report.
The supervisor’s spokesperson confirmed the Il Forno Trattoria outing to Fox 11.
“She did dine al fresco at Il Forno on the very last day it was permissible,” the spokesperson told the outlet. “She loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue.”
The spokesperson said Kuehl took the proper health precautions while dining.
*story by New York Post