Sonoma venues broke Covid laws, Chronicle reports
At least four summer weddings hosted and catered by Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group violated coronavirus restrictions on event size and mask use, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
About two dozen such weddings have been reported to the county, including one with as many as 100 attendees. Yet no enforcement actions have been taken by the county, which banned gatherings of more than 12 people in June.
Not included among those complaints, The Chronicle reported, were at least four other summer weddings hosted and catered by one of Sonoma’s biggest hospitality companies, Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group. Attendance at those events apparently ranged from 22 to 46 guests, according to internal documents, social media posts and interviews with former employees.
SBHG, which owns and operates both the Ramekins and Cornerstone Sonoma venues, denied that the events broke the rules. But former employees of SBHG told The Chronicle they felt unsafe having to work at weddings that didn’t follow COVID-19 safety rules, yet they didn’t feel like they could complain because jobs in the food service industry are so scarce.
“It was definitely scary. We didn’t have any real end of the tunnel for COVID, we still kinda don’t,” said Danny Girolomo, who worked as the main chef at three of the weddings that SBHG hosted and catered this summer. “It was very, very frustrating knowing the severity of COVID and the long-term effects we don’t know yet.”
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2 thoughts on “Sonoma venues broke Covid laws, Chronicle reports”
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What a surprise that these people still have no empathy for the community.
Not surprising that a blind eye is used by the county to ignore the Mattson’s, as money and power usually sways who the county chooses to cite or not for breaking the rules. I originally saw this as a Facebook post and I am happy that the Sun has run this piece. As a vacation rental owner and a wedding florist, I have had to play by the rules and lose income, but not so our homophobic, rich and privileged Mattson’s. Here is my comment to the Chronicle piece: The Mattson’s are also total homophobes. Many of us in the Sonoma Valley are boycotting their businesses. Why give money to them so they can support anti gay and anti women organizations with their profits? I am a wedding florist and will not work at their venues. It is hard to tell a bride that you won’t work there and why. I am aware I will be losing business, but unless we speak out, we will not be heard. Now I see that they also could care less about our health and well being. Somehow that does not surprise me in the least.