Restaurants on the San Juan Islands Can Now Reopen Dining Rooms
On Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that seven more Washington counties have advanced to phase two of the states reopening plan during the COVID-19 pandemic, including San Juan County. That means restaurants at popular vacation destinations such as Orcas, Lopez, San Juan, and Guemes are allowed to reopen dining rooms at 50 percent capacity, with several more restrictions in place to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Those include having single-use menus, establishing six feet of social distancing between staff and customers, and instituting a limit of one employee tending to a table at a time. (After initially making logging customer info a requirement, that is now optional.)
But restaurants and cafes in that area are in no hurry. All the spots Eater contacted out on the San Juan Islands including the ten places on this guide are either still temporarily closed or say they are planning on sticking with takeout services for now.
We are in wait and see mode, says Kai Ganon, the general manager of Roses Bakery Cafe, a popular breakfast destination in Orcas that has been around for nearly 30 years. It doesnt make much economic sense to open at half capacity, but there are also concerns about safety. We are in a very vulnerable community, with only one clinic. If theres an outbreak [of COVID-19] here, it would be a disaster.
Inslee also announced Monday that two more Washington counties can apply for a variance to his stay-at-home order and move to phase two, including Walla Walla, home to many of the states biggest wineries. Like restaurants, wine taprooms can open at half capacity in phase two as long as food is served and they adhere to every other public health guideline. This follows the original plan to allow some counties to reopen sooner than others, depending on coronavirus data.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/restaurants-on-the-san-juan-islands-can-now-reopen-dining-rooms/ar-BB14D8W8?ocid=hplocalnews