A diner in Gold Bar is the latest Washington restaurant to defy Gov. Jay Inslee's orders to shut down indoor dining.
Mountain View Diner's owner, Jane Boglivi, has refused to shut the diner down. Inslee ordered all indoor dining to cease after COVID-19 numbers continued to soar.
“I’ve lost so much this year, it’s unbelievable. … It will take years to recover from this," Boglivi said in an interview with KIRO Radio. "I’ve had to lay off people. We all have families. Some of us are single-income homes, and there’s no other paycheck coming in the household to pay the bills or help out or anything."
The COVID-19 pandemic has left a lot of businesses ailing financially with many weighing the repercussions of defying lockdown orders with that of shutting down businesses permanently and many are choosing the former, of late. Boglivi is one of the business owners who have chosen to keep the legacy and face the effects of breaking the law when the time comes.
"And after 30 years of putting my heart and soul into this place, I’m not willing to just hand it over to the bank or the government,” she told KIRO Radio, adding she has nothing to lose anyway if her operating license is taken, "Well, they’ve almost taken my business as it is, so what’s the difference? What are you going to get out of me if I have nothing?”
Restaurant owners have complained that they are being denied the opportunity to conduct normal business when other non-essential companies are being allowed to operate normally and this has compromised their lives and that of their employees. Early December, Inslee indicated that studies showed that coronavirus infections increase when indoor dining is allowed. Violators of the state rule will pay significant fines, added the governor.
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