Just 13 days ago Santa Cruz County officials announced the first confirmed case of COVID-19 within our tight-knit community. Since that fateful Saturday morning press conference, the Pajaronian news team has not had much time to take a moment to reflect and truly process what the spread of this highly-contagious virus means for everyone in the Pajaro Valley. It goes without saying that this shelter-in-place order will hamstring several, if not all, local businesses that make our city and region an incredible place to call home.
The Pajaronian is an institution. We’ve been around for 152 years. But that doesn’t make us untouchable. We, like many of our neighbors, are a local business and are under local ownership. We understand many of the challenges that all of you are going through, and we hope we’ll come out of this situation with the same resolve with which we entered.
Our ace reporter Todd Guild said reporting on the coronavirus has been akin to reporting on an ever-changing sand dune. One moment we’re writing about the first case being announced, and in a flash two more sprout up. Before we knew it, schools were canceling classes and moments later the county went on lockdown. This has made it challenging for us to determine what is the news of the day. We’ve tried our best to meet this mounting challenge, and we’ll continue to do so in the coming weeks and months. Our focus, as always, will be fact-based reporting.
As a member of the community I’ve tried my best to be a good citizen. I’ve supported local restuarants and coffeeshops through the shelter-in-place order. I’ve gone home and, most importantly, stayed home after completing my work shift. And I’ve washed my hands and lathered them with hand sanitizer more times than I can count over the last three weeks.
If you are not doing the same, I urge you to do so. Times are tough now and several health officials say things will get worse before they improve. But we still have control over how bad things can get and at what pace. Flattening the curve and social distancing should not simply be “power phrases” used by our leaders. They should be our way of life for the foreseeable future.
Contact Managing Editor Tony Nuñez at tn****@pa********.com.
