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On Nov. 21, just five days ahead of Thanksgiving, for which Plaza Grill already had 300 confirmed holiday dinner orders and another 200 awaiting confirmation, owner Bill Chino picked up the phone and started calling customers to cancel. A front-of-house employee had just tested positive for COVID-19. The call list was daunting, he says, but it was the right thing and the prudent thing to do. Plaza Grill was not alone. Within that week, five Arcata restaurants shut down temporarily due to employees possibly being exposed to or testing positive for COVID-19. It was the same week then county Health Officer Teresa Frankovich noted in a media availability that, along with travel, social gatherings beyond the three-household outdoor gatherings allowed under state guidelines including a party with some 100 people in attendance were driving a spike in positive cases that had pushed Humboldt into the purple widespread risk tier Nov. 24 and has only grown steeper in December. Th ....