COVID-19

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Health officials are urging everyone 6 months and older to get a flu vaccine this year in order to avoid a “twindemic” of Covid-19 and influenza cases packing hospitals this winter. Santa Cruz County Deputy Health Officer David Ghilarducci says that getting a...

WATSONVILLE—Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s students will engage in distance learning for the entire first semester of the 2020-21 school year, the Board of Trustees unanimously decided on Wednesday. The distance learning model is intended to slow the spread of Covid-19.  The district decided to keep...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County will dip into its budgetary reserves to cover an estimated $20 million deficit in this year’s budget, which stems from revenue losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the request by County Administrative Officer Carlos...

WATSONVILLE—While Santa Cruz County’s shelter-in-place order has kept residents in their homes, real estate agents have had to rely on their technical prowess to move their customers into new ones. Some realtors have turned to Facebook Live, a video feature that allows users to livestream...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday issued long-awaited guidance to Americans fully vaccinated against Covid-19, freeing them to take some liberties that the unvaccinated should not, including gathering indoors with others who are fully vaccinated without precautions while still adhering to...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—When Diversity Center Santa Cruz County established its LGBTQ+ Covid-19 Emergency Aid Fund last year, the organization expected to get some applicants, and then grow slowly by word-of-mouth. They ended up handing out close to $16,000 in just the first six months to...

Additional reporting by Todd Guild SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—With the onset of warmer, sunny days, droves of people have been showing up at area beaches and parks, especially on weekends, even as the shelter-in-place order has hit day 41.  And beginning April 25, Santa Cruz County also...

SACRAMENTO—Every registered voter in California will receive a vote-by-mail ballot for the November election after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Friday. The order requires that each county’s elections officials send vote-by-mail ballots for the Nov. 3 general election to all registered voters.  Californians...

The staff at the Santa Cruz County Clerk's office were busy late last night and early today hauling in the ballots from Tuesday’s voting across the county. Evelyn Jones, who has been Clerk III since 1990, said she enjoys the work and recalls, in...

SANTA CRUZ—Medical Professionals working for the Santa Cruz County Health Department—which has been grappling with low supplies of Personal Protective Equipment due to the Covid-19 epidemic—got a boost Monday with a donation from the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association (PVQA). Volunteers from that organization—45 in all,...