#1. Bad news for restaurants
Three establishment owners in Silver Spring filed a suit to contest the recent Montgomery County Indoor Dining ban citing that, “Restaurants and bars are not a significant source of COVID contamination”. After a grueling 12-hour hearing, Judge James Bonifant ruled to uphold the ban.
No data has been released yet as to how many restaurants have closed due to economic hardship as a result of the pandemic, but we have noticed more “leasing” signs and empty locations around the formerly popular streets in the County.
Judge James Bonifant did however say that he will reschedule another preliminary injunction after the holidays. Hopefully, a middle ground will be reached soon.
#2. Do you “bubble”?
Countries like New Zealand and the United Kingdom support having a quarantine “bubble” or “pod”. This is basically a small number of people agreeing to exclusively interact with one another, sans a mask. The goal here being to keep the group number small, hereby limiting the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Here in the U.S, the CDC has no information about bubbles on their site, and certain organizations like the NFL have opted not to have local bubbles as per their medical staff recommendations. Does it work? As of now, there isn’t enough data to prove whether it works or not, but I am wondering if this is what we have been doing without having a phrase for it.
3. The Stimulus money o!
President Trump finally signed off on the 900 billion dollar coronavirus relief bill yesterday that includes payments of up to $600 to eligible adults, plus $600 per child dependent. It’s baffling why it took about a week for this much needed relief, but the dim light at the end of the tunnel is that the House voted to increase the money to $2000 this week. All eyes on D.C!
