Public Safety

San Diego Businesses Prepare To Reopen, Again

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Pat Finn / Producer

Published January 26, 2021 at 2:41 PM PST

This story was published more than 3 years ago.

Customers dining on the sidewalk in front of Guava Beach Bar and Grill in Mission Beach on July 8, 2020. The city of San Diego waived permit requirements for outdoor dining after the state ordered restaurants to close indoor dining to stop the spread of coronavirus.

San Diego Businesses Prepare To Re-open -- Again

Many San Diego businesses are scrambling to provide outdoor dining, haircuts and other services to an eager public. But with so much about the rate of vaccinations and variants still unknown, much of the optimism remains cautious.

Outdoor dining, haircuts, mani-pedis and tattoos are all once again available to San Diego customers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the state's two-month-old stay-at-home order Monday, saying that computer modeling shows a continued downward trend in cases of COVID-19, as well as a drop in hospitalizations and ICU occupancy.

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Lori Weisberg, who covers the tourism and hospitality industries for The San Diego Union-Tribune, talked with KPBS Midday Edition about the uneven effect of the shut-down on businesses. Fine dining establishments, she noted, essentially had to "hibernate" and wait it out, while take-out restaurants fared better.

Weisberg said models are showing that intensive care capacity in Southern California will reach 33% a month from now. The stay-at-home order was given when it reached just 15%.

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Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Pat Finn

Pat Finn previously served as a producer for KPBS Midday Edition and KPBS Evening Edition. Finn began her career in broadcasting at KTLA and KCET in Los Angeles. In 1979 she became KPBS’ Public Information Director, then Director of Advertising and Promotion, Program Director, and Director of Broadcasting. She oversaw the station’s local and national productions, including the one-hour documentary Los Romeros: The Royal Family of the Guitar, and Child Protective Services, a one-hour look inside the San Diego County agency responsible for the welfare of at risk children. Both programs also aired on public television stations nationwide. Finn has earned honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

See stories by Pat Finn