By Jolin Hoang | Staff Writer

   On the Sunday of Dec. 6, California’s stay-at-home order took effect. Businesses and restaurants have begun closing, and individuals living in California have been ordered to stay at home with the exception of leaving for work or for errands.

   The impact of this lockdown will hit the hardest for restaurants and low-income workers. 

   The surge of COVID-19 cases has caused the intensive care unit capacity to fall about 13.1 percent, according to the state’s Department of Health. 

   This resulted in a need for another lockdown, in hopes to lower the cases of the novel coronavirus. 

   The lockdown has targeted in-person dining as it is the only activity where masks are removed for long periods of time in public.

  However, some restaurant owners in Southern California are defying the order and remaining open for outdoor dining. 

   “We are outdoors, and it is safe outdoors, according to all science, and until it’s proven different, we’re staying open,” said David Foldes, owner of Cronies Sports Grill in Agoura Hills. Foldes has been fined thousands of dollars from Los Angeles County for ignoring the state’s lockdown orders.

   Salons and small businesses have also been heavily impacted by the shutdown. Many of these businesses have been getting fewer customers ever since the first closure in March.

   They have been needing loans, grants, and funding. But the organizations that have been helping them throughout the pandemic announces that around this time there will not be enough. 

   Some small business tenants are struggling to pay rent. 

“I could lose everything, it would be sad because my family, we’ve been here for 32-years,” said Christina Bui. 

   The lockdown will last for three weeks, and the recovery for businesses and restaurants will be slowed.

   If the effects of the stay-at-home order follow the same pattern as the first lockdown, the recovery and impact of the closures will not be as severe.