WATSONVILLE—Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday afternoon said all bars, night clubs, wineries and breweries should close and that restaurants should move to takeout orders and reduce to half-capacity to halt the spread of the novel COVID-19 virus that has sickened thousands worldwide.
He also called for people 65 and older to practice home isolation, and said the state is in the process of securing hotels, motels and trailers to house the homeless population.
Watsonville City Manager Matt Huffaker said on Sunday the City has not yet received any details on how the state will implement or enforce the directive, and to which businesses it specifically applies. He expects the City will receive guidance later today or sometime early Monday.
“We must protect our most vulnerable to #COVID-19 and ensure essential part of our society can keep functioning,” Newsom tweeted shortly after he addressed the media in a live-streamed announcement.
Newsom said the state will soon set up a system to help get food to older adults practicing home isolation.
His statement fell short of an official order but the Governor said he expects businesses and local municipalities to follow his directive as they have in the past.
“I’m confident these guidelines will be well-received and will be appropriately enforced,” Newsom said. “If it is not being (done), we will do what we need to do.”
In Watsonville, the Villager, the city’s lone bar, was open Sunday and employee Angela Davis said the long-running local business in the East Lake Shopping Center would keep its normal hours until directed otherwise.
She said the scare over coronavirus has been overblown and it will ultimately hurt local businesses.
“I don’t think [the directive] is right,” Davis said. “What about the employees? This is our living. What are we going to do?”
In the same shopping center, Fruition Brewing co-owner David Purgason was busy Sunday trying to understand what the directive meant for his budding craft brewery. He said the California Craft Brewers Association provided updates as the directive was announced.
The association said breweries should still be able to sell beer for off-site consumption and that it would release further guidance Monday.
El Frijolito Restuarant on Monday had already moved to takeout only, with sales taking place at its window facing Union Street.
A few blocks away Jalisco Restaurant was still offered dine-in eating but owner and operator Stella Romo said staff had increased its sanitation efforts and was moving around tables to meet the county’s “social distancing” requirements.
“I think we’ve all been bombarded with so much information,” Romo said. “We’re trying to make our employees and customers to feel comfortable.”
Newsom announced there are at least 335 cases of coronavirus in the state and that six people have died from the virus, which has put entire countries on lockdown in recent weeks. He also said there have been a little more than 8,300 tests conducted in the state.
In Santa Cruz County, there have been seven confirmed cases and county officials predict there will be more in the coming days.
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education on Thursday announced it would close all schools until March 20, and the Pajaro Valley Unified School District in an emergency meeting Saturday extended that closure another week in a unanimous directive from the Board of Trustees.
In Watsonville, City leadership on Friday decided to close all “nonessential” services until at least March 20.
The City will monitor the situation on a day-to-day basis, Huffaker said Friday, and determine if the closure needs to be extended. Roughly half of the City’s employees will stay home. All of them, Huffaker said, will continue to be paid.
The closure does not include the City’s police, fire, water, wastewater and trash collection departments.
