COVID PM: When, where and how will live music return?
We’ve made it through another Monday, folks, and that’s music to my ears. Now if only we could get back to some of the real music we love.
Thankfully my good buddy and local music aficionado Wallace Baine is offering up some hope to those of us who fondly remember late nights out at places like the Catalyst, the Rio and Moe’s Alley — and wistfully anticipate such happenings in the near future. Clearly we will get there; it will just require a bit more patience and diligence when it comes to helping put an end to this pandemic.
In that vein, we come to local COVID numbers, where there remain reasons to be both hopeful and cautious — especially the latter when it’s put into the broader statewide context. More on all that below and as usual, please help spread the word about this newsletter and the ease of texting “Covid” to (831) 508-7524.
Away we go...
Remember back when we’d see stuff like this?
COVID ECONOMY WATCH SPECIAL REPORT: Seeing acts like SambaDá, the popular Afro-Samba-Funk-Dance-Music group that had become a pre-pandemic Moe’s Alley staple, will again happen. Club owners and music producers are confident they will emerge from the pandemic slump, but when, how, and what it will look like remain open questions. Seeking answers, Wallace dives in deep with this special report.
RELATED | MOE’S IN GOOD HANDS: Veteran show producer Bill Welch announced on Monday that he is stepping away from his role as the Moe’s Alley owner/operator, and is turning over the reigns to Lisa Norelli, the long-time general manager at Moe’s, and musician and promoter Brian Ziel. More details from Wallace here.
Cases decrease, hospitalizations up over weekend, what about statewide view?
COVID TODAY: While the local trend for both cases and hospitalizations remains positive, those progressions will be put to the test now that California has lifted stay-at-home orders for all regions. Our Mallory Pickett breaks it all down here.
STRONG WARNING SIGNS: It’s clear the ease of restrictions have some statewide health officials very nervous. “We will have to be doing a major education effort to make sure people do not misinterpret the removal of the regional stay-at-home order and think they can go about their lives like they did before COVID,” Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a UCLA medical epidemiologist and infectious-diseases expert, tells our content partner, the Los Angeles Times. “Otherwise,” he said, “we will see these numbers just go right back up.” Read that whole thing here.
More from here & elsewhere
➤ Head-scratching over Newsom’s choice of Blue Shield to lead vaccination push (Kaiser Health News)
➤ Sacrificing equity for speed? California’s COVID vaccine rollout stirs concern (CalMatters)
➤ Which vaccine should I be angling for? The one you’re offered first, experts advise (Kaiser Health News)
➤ California’s outdoor dining ban was controversial. Did it help slow the COVID-19 surge? (LA Times)
➤ An Indiana woman got a Covid-19 vaccine shot on her 100th birthday (CNN)
➤ The mystery of India’s plummeting COVID-19 cases (NPR)
➤ A Bay Area frat party attracted 75 unmasked students. School officials have yet to punish any (SF Gate)
Have a great night. See you all tomorrow!
Mark Conley
Deputy Managing Editor