The County of Santa Cruz would like to thank local businesses for complying
with State and local Shelter-in-Place orders to help protect the health and
safety of the community.
With Santa Cruz County in early Stage 2 of the State’s Resilience Roadmap,
non-essential retail business may offer curbside pickup only, such as
bookstores, jewelry stores, toy stores, clothing and shoe stores, home and
furnishing stores, sporting goods stores and florists. Non-essential retailers
must follow social distancing requirements during pickup and may not offer
curbside inventory for browsing or otherwise encourage customers to linger.
Manufacturing and logistics sectors that support retail may also operate as
long as they comply with social distancing requirements and other relevant
Health Officer orders.
Essential retailers may still offer in-store shopping as long as they follow and
post guidelines included in Appendix A of the Health Officer’s April 29 order,
available in English or Spanish. These types of retailers include medical
goods and supplies, grocery stores, pharmacies, convenience stores,
animal/pet food stores, gas stations, hardware and building materials stores,
and consumer electronics and appliance stores.
Construction sites and related activities are allowed to open and must comply
with Appendix B of the April 29 order, available in English or Spanish. Golf
courses must also comply with Appendix C of the April 29 order, available in
English or Spanish.
Restaurants remain open for pickup only. No dine-in or outdoor seating of any
kind is allowed until the County is allowed to proceed into late Stage 2 of the
State’s Resilience Roadmap. For restaurants anticipating a return to limited
dine-in services, the State recently released guidance on safe operations,
available here.
The County is closely monitoring local indicators such as case counts, testing
capacity and personal protective equipment availability to determine whether it
can apply for a variance allowing the County to move into later Stage 2.
The County intends to work closely with Community Foundation Santa Cruz
County and the newly formed Economic Recovery Council to move toward a
safe, phased and enduring reopening of the local economy. Businesses and
residents that do not comply with existing Shelter-in-Place orders are likely to
inhibit the County’s ability to meet variance criteria and move forward.
Stage 3 and Stage 4 businesses and operations, such as hair and nail salons,
movie theaters, religious services, sporting events and other large gatherings,
are not included in the variance process at this time and remain closed
throughout California. In deciding whether to allow activities to
resume, counties may not be more permissive than State rules.
As a reminder, beaches remain closed from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Residents
may traverse sand to participate in water sports in the ocean, which remains
open during these hours. Outside these hours, the beach is open for
recreation only, and residents are encouraged to practice physical distancing.
While the April 29 order is indefinite, the Health Officer is monitoring the
community and will review the order on an ongoing basis for needed changes,
including whether to safely allow certain activities to resume. An FAQ on the
order is available at santacruzcounty.us/ShelterinPlaceFAQ.aspx.
For local information on COVID-19, go to
www.santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus, call 211 or text “COVID19” to 211211.
Residents may also call (831) 454-4242 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6
p.m., seven days a week.
