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.” READ MORE