COVID-19

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Every school district in Santa Cruz County will be required to begin the 2020-21 school year with distance learning, Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah announced Monday. The announcement came after the county on Monday met California Department of Public Health’s...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—When the county’s first shelter-in-place order went into effect on March 16, the Santa Cruz Symphony (SCS) immediately took action. Recognizing that it was unlikely Spring performances could be held, SCS set up the Musician Relief Fund, seeded by $20,000 from its general...

WATSONVILLE—One week after the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees approved a distance learning plan for the 2020-21 school year, the district signed an agreement with the teachers’ union on Thursday that approves the finer details of how teachers will return to...

SACRAMENTO—A contract with a San Jose diagnostics company will allow the state to increase its Covid-19 testing capacity up to an additional 150,000, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Aug. 24. Under the deal with Perkin Elmer, the state will be able to process up to an...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County on Tuesday moved into a less restrictive tier of the state’s new Covid-19 reopening plan, allowing some businesses to reopen their indoor services with capacity limits and other modifications. Personal care services such as waxing, nails and massage therapy, restaurants, places...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Public Health Division announced Wednesday morning the eighth death of a resident due to Covid-19. The resident, who died in their home, was a Hispanic male in his early 40s who lived in South County. While the individual had...

WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville on Sept. 26 will be hosting a Drive-Thru Ice Cream Social for older adults in front of the Watsonville Senior Center. The event will run from noon-3pm at 114 E. 5th St.  RSVP by calling the Older Adults Services Supervisor Katie Nuñez...

WATSONVILLE—The City of Watsonville celebrated two reopenings Friday, hosting a socially-distanced ribbon-cutting ceremony for the rebuilt Muzzio Park playground and removing some Covid-19 restrictions from its 26 parks. A handful of community members joined City staff and Watsonville City Councilman Felipe Hernandez at Muzzio Park...

WATSONVILLE—After Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday moved most counties in California into the “Widespread” or purple tier of Covid-19 restrictions—saying he was pulling an “emergency brake” on efforts to reopen the state—school districts across the state followed suit. Pajaro Valley Unified School District was planning...

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced that starting Saturday all non-essential businesses, travel and gatherings will be subject to a month-long curfew. Counties in the “Widespread,” or purple, tier of the state’s Covid-19 reopening plan, will have to close all non-essential businesses and cease all...