Sonoma’s restaurants prepare for another shutdown

The coronavirus surge and regional stay at home order issued by the governor last week has local restaurants on edge and preparing for a slow holiday season.

“It seems like people already are not going out as much as they were a month ago,” said Martin Gobbee, general manager of Taub Family Outpost.

The number of diners dropped around Thanksgiving at B&V (formerly called B&V Whiskey Bar and Grill), said Morgan McCulley.

“I think people think we’re already shut down,” she said. That was Sunday, their “last day of service” at least through December, McCulley said. Codi Binkley, co-owner, said that he and co-owner and executive chef Carlo Cavallo will be solely operating the restaurant in a to-go only fashion offering soups and paninis as well as cocktails, beer and bottled wine. The wine is being sold at a 50 percent discount.

Employees are planning on refiling for unemployment, and some have second jobs to help carry them through, she said.

Gobbee said Taub Family Outpost plans to stay open throughout the winter and is in the process of trying to figure out the new county guidelines for tents and heaters. They are getting a “custom-built” tent for the patio for the outdoor seating in back of the adjacent building, which is also owned by the Taub family.

“If we lose the outdoor seating” they still have the wine shop and marketplace to operate, Gobbee said. If the state issues the most restrictive stay-at-home order based on the new regional Blueprint metrics, the business will consider furloughing the wait staff “so they can get unemployment,” he said. Collecting unemployment would be better for them than trying to give them hours in the retail operations, he said.

The hours they might get in retail wouldn’t offset the loss of tip income they get from waiting tables, he said.

Saul Gropman of Café La Haye said they aren’t considering shutting down, but will pivot if necessary.

“We will continue to be nimble, switching back to takeout only, as we did last March when the first shutdown was initiated,” Gropman said.

“My only disappointment was the incoherent and confusing rollout of the governor’s press conference,” he said referring to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Dec. 3 announcement of the regional stay-at-home order.

The new order is based on hospital ICU capacity by region and intended to effectively put the “emergency brake” on the spread of coronavirus. Regions where the ICU capacity in hospitals falls below 15 percent will be placed on a stay-at-home order for three weeks.

The five regions are based on pre-existing mutual aid systems in the state, with Sonoma County placed in the Bay Area Region. Four of the state’s regions are projected to fall below the 15 percent ICU capacity in early December, the Bay Area projected for mid-late December, Newsom said.

Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer, said Monday that the county is in a “wait and see” mode to determine if it will preemptively call for additional restrictions as have neighboring counties. The state’s definition of ICU capacity is “a moving target” making it difficult to predict if or when the county will hit the metric that will place it in the most restrictive shelter-in-place orders.

In a Monday press conference Newsom said hospitalizations in the state have spiked to 72 percent over the past 14 days.

“You carry that forward, you understand why we made” the announcement last week, he said.

Newsom said Monday that the 30-day positivity rate in California has more than doubled.

“We were at 3.4 percent just 30 days ago,” he said and the state positivity rate is now at an average of 8.4 percent. The last seven days the rate was 10.5 percent, “and that’s an indication of where we’re going.”

Under the new guidelines schools such as the Presentation School that opened through a waiver will be allowed to continue holding in-person classes.

Retail businesses will be held to 20 percent capacity, and grocery stores will be limited to 35 percent capacity.

Mase stressed the need for residents to “avoid large gatherings” and continue to wear masks and wash hands.

The Bay Area Region includes the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma. The region-wide ICU capacity is currently at 27.5 percent available, Mase said. According to California’s dashboard on Monday, Sonoma County has 12 ICU beds available, up four from Sunday.

Last week, state and county websites showed the county capacity at less than 5 percent, but Mase is reluctant to declare a need to shutdown until she has a clearer understanding of how the state is defining ICU beds and capacity.

UPDATE: This story was updated to reflect the changes at B&V restaurant.

Contact Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.