TONY NUÑEZ: Community members again gathered at the George Washington bust in the Watsonville City Plaza on Friday. Some were calling for the statue to come down and others were saying it should stay up.
People on both sides of the argument will get their say Monday at the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting at 6:30pm.
To view or participate in the meeting click here. People can also call into the meeting by dialing 1 (786) 535-3211 and then entering access code 287-441-181.
To send in comments before the meeting email [email protected].
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TONY NUÑEZ: Last Friday I was tested for Covid-19 at the OptumServe testing site in Watsonville along with Watsonville City Councilman Felipe Hernandez. We decided to get tested because we heard from many that wait times were ranging from seven to 14 days—some even said they never received their results.
My results came back negative on Thursday morning. Councilman Hernandez was also negative. He received his results on Wednesday night. Six days is a long time to wait for results, and the county is working with UC Santa Cruz and its county clinics to shorten that time.
For those who want to watch our experience, check out the video below. A followup video is in the works and should be posted this weekend. I was also posting daily updates on the Pajaronian Instagram account, and those are still available too.
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TONY NUÑEZ: There are 740 active Covid-19 cases in Santa Cruz County, according to the county’s data as of Friday at 5:43pm.
I’m still trying to grasp how we went from less than 400 cases overall just a few weeks ago to now more than 1,100. Thankfully we have not had many deaths—just four, and in two of those Covid-19 was only a contributing factor. Our hospitalizations have also not skyrocketed out of control. All that data is available on the county’s dashboard.
Most cases continue to be centered around Watsonville. There have been 634 cases in the Watsonville area since Covid-19 started its spread here in early April.
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TONY NUÑEZ: About a dozen folks have asked me this today: How long will the latest shutdown last?
Answer: The economic restrictions will remain in place until the county notches two weeks below the state’s threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 people—that data can be found here. That means indoor services will be closed until at least mid-August.
