Restaurant trade group sues over restrictions

Dining orders in Baltimore City, Montgomery, Prince George’s counties targeted

Striking back against bans on in-house dining at restaurants due to the pandemic, the restaurant industry sued Baltimore City and PrinceGeorge’s andMontgomery counties Friday seeking to overturn those local orders and reopen by Christmas.

The effort in Baltimore and Prince George’s is being led by the Restaurant Association ofMaryland, a Columbia-based trade group. During a news conference Friday, association president Marshall Weston said that business owners face an “impossible task” of trying to stay open with only carryout to sustain themselves.

The suits come two days after an Anne Arundel County judge issued a temporary restraining order to overturn that jurisdiction’s ban on indoor dining. Weston said his group was encouraged by that decision, which came in response to a case brought by restaurant owners in Annapolis and Severna Park. They were represented by Annapolis attorneyC. EdwardHartman III.

The restaurant association’s attorneys argue that restaurants have been unfairly singled out for restrictions despite insufficient evidence that they pose a greater risk for transmission of the coronavirus.

“Why restaurants? What’s the difference” between restaurants and other businesses, said attorney Joe Zauner of the Baltimore firm Zauner & Mtimet, which is representing the restaurant association in Baltimore and Prince George’s.

His firm began drafting the case before the Anne Arundel decision and borrowed heavily fromthat case, Zauner said.

Zauner said he hopes judges will grant a temporary restraining order ineach jurisdiction within a few days, which would allow restaurants to reopen in time for Christmas andNewYear’s.

Hartman is representing plaintiffs in the Montgomery County case, too, Weston said. Hartman could not be reached Friday for comment.

Public health experts say there are differences that make indoor dining riskier than, say, going to the grocery store. While retail shops can enforce mask mandates among customers, it’s impossible for diners to eat with a mask on.

Such mask less moments create the potential for spread of the virus, said Dr. Morgan Katz, assistant professor of infectious disease at Johns Hopkins University. And diners tend to spend longer at a restaurant than theywould inside a typical store.

“You can get a lot of viral shedding in that time,” Katz said.

Still, Katz said he thinks there areways to eat at a restaurant safely.

“Outdoor dining — if you can make it happen — is generally safe, and I do go dine outside,” she said. “I personally wouldn’t dine indoors. I don’twant all the restaurants to hateme, but I have to be honest.”

Statewide, Gov. Larry Hogan has limited restaurants to 50% of their capacity for indoor dining, but has allowed local leaders to impose stricter measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The state’s health department considers restaurants “high-risk locations” for the spread of the virus. Others include weddings, parties and stores, places where there is “prolonged exposure to other people.”

According to state contact tracing data from July through early November, a little more than one in 10 of infected respondents said that had eaten inside at a restaurant.

Baltimore’s ban on indoor and outdoor dining went into effect last week. Asked about the lawsuit Friday, Mayor Brandon Scott defended the decision to halt onpremise dining in the city, saying: “Whatwe didwas guided by public health science and advice. Period.”

Whilethe first batches of apromisingnew vaccine are arriving at Maryland hospitals, cases of the coronavirus continue to rise statewide. Maryland added more than 2,500 new COVID-19 cases and 36 new related deaths Friday.

Dave Rather, whose Mother’s Grille has branches in Baltimore City and Baltimore andAnne Arundel counties, saidhewas glad to hear of the association’s suit, which, if successful, could reopen his restaurant’s Federal Hill location.

At the moment, he said, “we’re losing money every day staying open.” He’s determined not to cut employees’ hours right before Christmas, but it’s a challenge when, as he said, “we’re doing zero business.”

Like many other restaurant owners, Rather believes his business has been unfairly targeted for closure during the pandemic.

“IfWalmart can be packed,” he said, “then people should be allowed to go into restaurants.”

The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the hospitality industry, with 45% of area restaurant operators telling the Restaurant Association of Maryland they would close within the next six months without a relief package from the federal government, according to Weston. More than 100,000 workers remain unemployed.