COVID-19

Santa Cruz County is expected to move from the purple “widespread” tier to the less restrictive red “substantial” tier when the state updates its tier assignments next week, County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said. That means several indoor business operations could reopen on March...

By Stacy Cowley and Jim Tankersley, of The New York Times Aiming to put its own stamp on the Paycheck Protection Program, the Biden administration on Monday abruptly changed crucial program rules in ways intended to help the smallest and neediest companies, which have sometimes...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County on Wednesday announced that a man in his 60s died from Covid-19 on Aug. 15. County spokesman Jason Hoppin said that the man was unvaccinated and had underlying health conditions. The death was the 210th in Santa Cruz County attributable to...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (COE) has launched a dashboard that summarizes Covid-19 testing results across schools countywide. The dashboard is a partnership with school districts, Inspire Diagnostics and the Santa Cruz County Department of Public Health, COE spokesman Nick Ibarra...

By Jacob Pierce, Good Times Editor Businesses all over Santa Cruz County are getting ready to close down or reduce their operations, as a new stay-at-home order takes effect. The order goes live at 11:59pm Thursday, now that the Bay Area region hit a threshold wherein...

By Todd Guild, Katie Evans and Christina Wise California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Dec. 30 released a plan under which schools could reopen as early as February. The plan, which streamlines the process of applying for a waiver to bring students back for in-person instruction, is...

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...

When asked about how dire the situation is for local businesses despite the recent relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the state, Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Danny Reber did not hold back. About a handful of businesses have already shuttered, and...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials on Friday said they will not yet join five other Bay Area counties in preemptively adhering to the regional stay-at-home order announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday. Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Marin and Santa Clara counties will adopt...

The June 15 reopening date set by California Gov. Gavin Newsom will now mark another pandemic milestone: the day many Californians can go without masks in most settings. California’s Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly on Monday told reporters the state will continue...