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Pima County leaders approve revised restaurant rules

Posted at 10:34 PM, May 21, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-22 01:34:19-04

TUCSON, Ariz. — Managers and owners in the service industry are serving up an bleak image.

"Restaurants have taken a huge hit in this time period. It's been very, very hard for the mom and pop's to survive with this."

"It's really hard to follow these and still survive."

Regulations deemed too strict for restaurants to operate were challenged by people who own or work at those businesses.

That challenge came along with these assurances by the very same people.

"We're for safety. Safety of the public, safety of our patrons, safety of ourselves. Nobody wants to get sick, no body wants to get everybody else sick."

"Our best interest is to keep everybody safe. That's what our commitment to our guest is and that's our commitment to our people that work for us."

With that the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to approve revised rules for restaurants.

"The suggested edits that I think, many of us will be happy with the outcome if we can work through this."

Among the list of revised rules:
- Restaurants can now seat more than 50-percent capacity only if they have the space to follow social distancing standards.

- The rules will not apply to drive-thru or pick up service.

- Bar top seating will be allowed with a distance of 6-feet between customers.

- No customers with symptoms will be prohibited, instead the county will leave it to the customer not to eat out if they have symptoms, notices will be posted by restaurants.

Some temporary rules that will remain:
- no parties of over 10 people will allowed

- restaurants must continue to provide single use menus.

Click here for a full list of remaining and revised temporary rules for restaurants in Pima County.