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LA Restaurants Temporarily Close In Response To Rising Numbers, Breakthrough Cases Of COVID-19

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A new surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is again taking a toll on Los Angeles-area restaurants.

Restaurants throughout the region are already struggling to staff up to meet the high demand for dine-in meals, but now they are also being hit disproportionately hard by the rise in new infections, especially among people who are unvaccinated.

This week, both Bottega Louie in West Hollywood and Village Idiot LA in the Melrose area announced temporary closures due to COVID-19 on Instagram.

The Village Idiot said it would close for a few days due after a fully vaccinated staff member tested positive for the virus.

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but unfortunately we've had a breakthrough case of Covid-19 with one of our fully vaccinated staff members. We will be closed for the next few days until all of our employees are tested," the restaurant said in an Instagram post. "Once we feel secure that it's safe for us to resume serving you our doors will reopen."

Bottega Louie in West Hollywood said they would close "out of an abundance of caution."

"…we have decided to close Bottega Louie West Hollywood for a few days, due to increasing COVID-19 cases," the restaurant said on Instagram.

Neither restaurant said when they would reopen.

During previous surges of the virus, a mask mandate was in place throughout the state, and restaurants were required to either serve diners outdoors or limit their capacity. But all coronavirus safety restrictions and the mask mandate were lifted statewide on June 15. Since then, the state has seen a troubling rise in new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, and more than 99% of this surge's victims have been unvaccinated people.

An indoor mask mandate has been reimposed in Los Angeles County, and public health officials in several other counties are strongly recommending people wear face masks when indoors or in crowded outdoor venues.

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