JUDGE UPHOLDS LIMITS ON INDOOR DINING, GYMS

Ruling sides with state in denying injunction, says restrictions valid, legal

A San Diego Superior Court judge rejected a request from two restaurants and two gyms to halt enforcement of state-mandated restrictions on their operations aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, concluding that the state’s rules are a legitimate and legal effort to protect public health during the pandemic.

The ruling issued by Judge Kenneth Medel denied a request for a preliminary injunction from the businesses. It largely tracked an earlier ruling in November when Medel turned aside a request for an immediate injunction that would have allowed the businesses to operate.

The businesses were seeking a ruling that would allow them to reopen indoor operations. They contended that the state Blueprint for a Safer Economy, a color-coded system delineating when and to what extent business and other activities in counties can reopen, was too sweeping and an abuse of state power.

They also said that the blueprint ignored data about where and how the virus was spreading, and that the frequent shifting and modifications to the plan were confusing and led to financial problems and uncertainty for businesses.

The state countered that under the law the state had broad authority to regulate activities during a public health crisis, and that the only issue was whether the regulations were rationally related to the government interest in curbing the pandemic. Dismantling a part of the state’s efforts to fight the pandemic that restricted indoor gatherings like dining and working out posed a greater potential harm to the public than if the restrictions were left in place, state lawyers said.

In the end Medel sided with the state. He said the blueprint and other public health orders “lay out a rationale that is plausible and plainly related to the compelling state interest in curbing the spread of a deadly disease.”

While acknowledging there is disagreement among experts on the best way to fight the pandemic, he said the legal question was whether there was a rational basis to the state’s approach. Restaurants and gyms posed their own challenges to fighting the virus, Medel said.

“Restaurants and gyms are environments that can facilitate the further spread of COVID-19,” he wrote. “Restaurants bring together people from different households for extended periods of time, and require the removal of face coverings for eating and drinking. Similarly, fitness centers bring together persons from different households, to engage in activities that commonly involve heavy breathing in closed areas.”

A lawyer for the restaurants and gyms did not respond to an email request for comment early Wednesday evening.

Outside the courtroom, there may be relief on the way for some businesses. The county’s COVID-19 metrics continue to decline, though the county remains in the most restrictive purple tier. The county’s case rate, a measure of the number of cases per 100,000 residents, remains just above the threshold for moving into the less restrictive red tier.

That tier allows some indoor dining and gym operations.

San Diego State University has received a $14 million donation to support its Department of Astronomy, a small program that has made big contributions in recent years, especially in finding and analyzing planets that exist far beyond the solar system.

The gift is the largest ever made to SDSU’s astronomy department, the only stand-alone program of its kind in the 23 campus California State University system.

SDSU said in a statement that the gift is in the form of a stock investment bequest from the late Theodore William Booth and his wife, the late Nhung Lu Booth, an alumna of the College of Sciences.

The astronomy department has six faculty members and about 30