COVID-19

APTOS—A month before summer classes begin on June 15, Cabrillo College is seeing a significant increase in enrollment for that semester, even as college officials gird themselves for a recession and for budget cuts caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, Cabrillo announced Friday that...

SACRAMENTO—New stay-at-home orders issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday will be based on intensive care unit capacity in five regions in California. Newsom said that much of the state will likely be under the stay-at-home orders within the next few days if ICU capacity...

WATSONVILLE—A warehouse in the heart of Watsonville’s industrial district sat mostly empty until about a month ago, when a local realtor converted it into a distribution center for coronavirus care packages. Dee Dee Vargas, along with Pajaro Valley Unified School District bus driver Barbie Gomez,...

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...

CALIFORNIA—Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide “stay at home” order on Thursday evening, bringing California’s nearly 40 million residents in line with shelter-in-place orders recently issued by Santa Cruz and Monterey county officials. The directive goes into effect this evening, Newsom said at a press...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to require all of 2,400 County employees to either take the Covid-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing. Employees who refuse both risk termination, or being put on leave without...

WATSONVILLE—A group of students at MacQuiddy Elementary School got a special holiday treat last week.  Thanks to the efforts of instructor Amy McGee and others, 15 kids—all members of Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s Safe Spots program—were handed an armload of gifts Friday, including a...

WATSONVILLE—The Covid-19 community testing site at Ramsay Park in Watsonville is now open to all residents of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. First opened to frontline healthcare workers, first responders and employees working in essential services and roles, the site will now test everyone, including...

SANTA CRUZ—Dignity Health Dominican Hospital announced Monday that it has received a $1 million donation, which will be dispersed to hospital employees who have helped fight the coronavirus. The anonymous donor is a “long-time friend” of the hospital who wanted to thank the workers specifically...

SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Chief Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios told the Board of Supervisors Monday that it should spend $20 million in reserves to fill a deficit for the 2019-20 fiscal year caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. That move will be a sizable slice of...