Quick Take:
Burgundi Thure, Owner of Sew Rose, provides a one-stop home decorating service for her clients, including creating...
Happy Monday and happy night before the next big event, everyone!
It’s not too late to join in with Lookout food correspondent Amber Turpin and me as we lob questions at and have a few laughs with a handful of Santa Cruz’s most experienced chefs tomorrow night at 6.
Damani Thomas opened his arms to community support and couldn’t have imagined how much he’d find. Brad Briske and his wife Linda hustled and scrapped their way into pandemic restaurant success. Gema Cruz and the crew at Gabriella Cafe didn’t waver in their resolute mission to take Oaxacan food to the next level.
While it would be way more fun if we could do this event in person (and thrust these culinary masters into some kind of cutthroat competition and then sample their hard work) we’ll take what the late pandemic spring delivers and know that something like that might not be too far off.
And we’ll do our best to have some fun anyway, bringing our favorite drink to the occasion to talk food, resilience and recovery. Please do join our happy hour ‘Santa Cruz Eats!’ discussion by signing up for FREE here.
And #BOLO: Be On the Lookout for an update from Amber on how the long-anticipated indoor opening of Mentone in Aptos is looking. (Spoiler alert: Pretty darned good pretty dang soon.)
Now on to the day’s top headlines…
Is needle fear holding you back?
VACCINE WATCH: Amid the push for herd immunity, 5% of adults may be avoiding vaccines due to an intense fear of needles. It is common, and it can be overcome. We may avoid vaccines for many reasons, but a fundamental cause shouldn’t be overlooked: Many people just don’t like getting shots. And some would rather die than get a routine vaccination. The LA Times explores this more here.
As cases plummet here, surges in Oregon, Washington
COVID TODAY: Even as Oregon and Washington face new COVID-19 surges, there is growing optimism that California remains in recovery mode as coronavirus cases continued to fall dramatically along with related deaths. More from the Times here.
Politics on display in California counties
VACCINE WATCH: Infectious disease experts estimate that anywhere from 50% to 85% of the population would need to get vaccinated to put a damper on the spread of the virus. But overall state numbers may mask pockets of unvaccinated Californians, concentrated inland, that will prevent these regions from achieving “herd immunity,” the point at which the unvaccinated are protected by the vaccinated. Epidemiologists worry that the virus may continue to circulate in these communities, threatening everyone. More from Kaiser Health News here.
➤ VACCINE WATCH: Drive-through appointments available for this Wednesday at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds (County)
➤ VACCINE WATCH: CVS and Walgreens have wasted more vaccine doses than most states combined (Kaiser Health News)
➤ COVID TODAY: Scientists scramble to see why, in rare cases, even the vaccinated can get COVID-19 (LA Times)
More from here & elsewhere
➤ FDA to authorize Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds by early next week (CNN)
➤ A Chinese Communist Party-linked account mocked India’s Covid crisis on social media. It backfired (CNN)
➤ Covid-19 caused one in three deaths in Brazil so far this year (CNN)
➤ Children Now Account For 22% of New U.S. COVID Cases. Why Is That? (NPR)
➤ Florida Gov. DeSantis invalidates COVID-19 restrictions statewide, says there’s no need ‘to be policing people at this point’ (USA Today)
➤ New Jersey ‘Shot and a Beer’ program offers free beer to those who get Covid-19 vaccine (NBC News)
➤ As anti-Asian hate spread with the virus, this group uncovered disturbing trends (NBC News)
➤ Asian teen was punched and called racial slurs at Bay Area AAU basketball tournament (SF Gate)
Sign up for the event and I’ll see you tomorrow night!
Mark Conley
Deputy Managing Editor