As restaurants continue to reopen across Southern California, the Investigative team at NBC4 was curious to find out just how many of those businesses were following the new health guidelines intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They found that about 1,000 Southern California restaurants were in violation of those new health department rules...
"We did have our teams out this weekend. They visited 2,000 restaurants and they found that 50% of the restaurants were still not in compliance," Barbara Ferrer, director of the LA County Public Health Department, told the NBC4 I-Team.
The team at NBC4 also found out about three separate outbreaks, where more than three employees at each of the Los Angeles restaurants recently tested positive for COVID-19. The establishments include a Panda Express at 524 E. Washington Blvd., the McDonald's at 401 E. Manchester, and another McDonald's restaurant at 2224 North Figueroa.
According to the Los Angeles Public Health Department, the 1,000 restaurants that were caught violating health guidelines last weekend will be reinspected. If they don't pass the next inspection, Ferrer says she reserves the right to shut them down.
"I urge people to contact us at public health, particularly if you are employees and you feel like something hasn't been reported to us," she added.
Read the full report on NBC4 Los Angeles.