COVID-19

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WATSONVILLE—Two weeks ago, a group of nurses from Watsonville Community Hospital held a roadside demonstration in an attempt to stop hospital officials from increasing nurse-to-patient ratios. They were expected to be back Wednesday, starting at 3:30pm, for a second similar demonstration on Airport Boulevard. Their...

WATSONVILLE—Covid-19 vaccines are now available by appointment only for residents 75 years and older at the county’s new mass vaccination center at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Residents who are at 95019, 95076 and 95077 zip codes must register at https://mhealthsystem.com/santacruzfairgrounds to schedule an appointment....

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Massage therapy, nail salons, tattoo parlors and other personal services can reopen in Santa Cruz County on Friday, the county announced Monday. The county said those businesses should follow state guidance released by the California Department of Public Health June 12 which requires...

APTOS—Two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday rolled around, Twin Lakes Church Pastor Rene Schlaepfer and Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) CEO Willy Elliott McCrea were worried. The church’s annual food drive, which typically raises thousands of dollars for the food bank’s holiday, was falling short,...

WATSONVILLE—Starting this month, most employers will be required by law to report workplace Covid-19 outbreaks to county health departments thanks to Assembly Bill 685. Reported outbreaks, defined as three or more cases at one address over a 14-day period, will then be public information published...

WATSONVILLE—Tenant advocates saw a modest increase in eviction notices in June, the month immediately following the Watsonville City Council’s decision to allow its citywide eviction moratorium to expire. The council at its May 26 meeting voted 5-2—Mayor Rebecca Garcia and councilman Francisco Estrada voted “no”—to...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Deep cleaning is now routine at Santa Cruz METRO to not only keep their fleet on the road, but to assure riders that busses are squeaky clean. Every day since early March, before the first person in Santa Cruz County was diagnosed with...

WATSONVILLE—The application process for the City of Watsonville’s small business emergency grants opened today. With help from El Pajaro Community Development Corporation, the city will offer roughly 50 grants of up to $2,000 to small businesses located within city limits with $2 million or less...

WATSONVILLE—If all goes according to plan, Watsonville’s Ramsay Park over the next five years will become the “community space that it really needs to be,” says city of Watsonville Administrative Services Director Cindy Czerwin. The City plans to pump roughly $22 million in local, state...