Anne Arundel county executive changes tune on outdoor dining
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. - Anne Arundel’s county executive is changing his tune on outdoor dining.
Earlier in the week, Steuart Pittman announced that the county would shut down both indoor and outdoor dining as part of a set of restrictions put in place to stall the spread of a resurgent novel coronavirus.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Anne Arundel County announces new food service restrictions amid COVID-19 surge
Only takeout and delivery would be permitted.
However, on Wednesday – just hours before the restrictions were set to go into effect – Pittman reversed course on outdoor dining.
READ MORE: Restaurant associations project 25% of DC, Maryland restaurants will close for good
With the change, outdoor dining will now be permitted in Anne Arundel county as long as 50 percent of tent sides are down.
The county executive said he made the change after talking “stake holders and health officials.”
Restaurants have been hit hard by the coronavirus – and by the restrictions imposed in order to combat it.
Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and Weather
In June, a restaurants association projected that Maryland and D.C. would lose approximately 25 percent of their restaurants as a result of the pandemic.
In addition to changing course on outdoor dining, the county executive announced that he’d requested $2 million to create the Restaurant Workers Humanitarian Relief Fund.