Gov. Gavin Newsom Claims California's Economy Is 'Roaring Back' — But Is It?

Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed California's economy was "roaring back" as the state planned to fully reopen and he announced actions to ensure that restaurants and bars continued to have pandemic regulatory relief back in June 2021.

"As the state turns to post-pandemic life, we’ll continue to adapt best practices that have helped businesses transform customer experience for the better,” Newsom said in June 2021. “With new opportunities and support for businesses large and small, and the California can-do spirit that has carried us through the past year, we will come roaring back from this pandemic.”

But has California come "roaring back" from the pandemic?

Newsom's administration extended relief measures that permit restaurants and bars to continue to benefit from their investments to expand outdoor operations in areas such as sidewalks and parking lots, and to continue the sale of to-go alcoholic beverages with food deliveries, among other successful pandemic adaptations, his office said in a release.

But as California Rebel Base Podcast's Steve Hilton reports, recent OpenTable data suggests otherwise.

According to the restaurant reservation site, which launched its State of the Industry website to illustrate how COVID-19 has been impacting restaurants around the globe in March 2020, there have been declines in the reservations made at restaurants when looking at a 7-day average from 2019 to 2022 in a few of California's major cities:

The OpenTable site data — which only shows data from restaurants that allow booking using the website's service — shows an important factor to Newsom's efforts.

"More than a year later, the data from restaurants on our platform continues to tell a powerful story - identifying moments of recovery as cities, states, and countries reopen," the website reads.

Newsom claims California is on the rebound, but as California Rebel Base's Hilton reports, "he couldn't be more wrong." Hilton also notes that San Diego, which doesn't have vaccine passport requirements, compares differently to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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Megan graduated from the University of Central Florida and writes and tweets about anything related to sports. She replies to comments she shouldn't reply to online and thinks the CFP Rankings are absolutely rigged. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.