COVID PM: We survived the June 15 moment, but it didn’t feel like the finish line, did it?

By Mark Conley

Source: Lookout Santa Cruz

Welcome to The Day After, folks — did we survive?

At least to this point, it does not appear we replicated any incident like this crazy one in Georgia. In fact, ICYMI, Tuesday’s local scene was pretty encouraging and well worth the study we put into it, I think.

It’s a weird and in-flux world out there, no doubt. But we will keep on keeping on. And if we do it with a smile on our collective face, still behind a mask or not, we will get to the elusive there.

I promise.

Now for those Day After headlines...

Some aren’t eager to shed their masks just yet

Keeping it on: California fully reopened Tuesday, so residents who are fully vaccinated were able to go into many public places without masks, but many kept them on. More from the LA Times here.

Don’t be a jerk, say if you’re vaccinated, keep masking

What workers want from customers: Now that California has eased its COVID rules, many customers at stores, restaurants and hotels want things to be normal. Here’s what workers think.

Photos capture California as the state fully reopens

Cool visuals: New California guidelines say that fully vaccinated people are no longer required to wear masks in most public settings. The Times captured imagery of June 15 here.

ICYMI: Another month, another all-time high

Home prices in Santa Cruz County hit $1.3 million in May: The median sale price for a single-family home rose to a record $1.3 million countywide in May, and the sale price of a single-family home in the city of Santa Cruz leaped to a record $1.5 million. Details from Maria Gaura here.

More from here & elsewhere

➤ Morgan Stanley CEO to NYC workers: Be back in the office by September or else (CNN)
➤ Cases of a dangerous Covid-19 variant are ‘rapidly increasing’ in US, expert says (CNN)
➤ There’s still no evidence of a Chinese lab leak. But here’s what’s changed, scientists say (NBC News)
➤ Chris Paul indefinitely sidelined from NBA playoffs as part of the league’s Covid-19 protocols (CNN)
➤ Adviser says New Zealand used virus luck well (ABC News)
➤ Instacart contest encourages COVID vaccines with gift cards for snacks (USA Today)
➤ COVID hits Ecuador doctors who delayed wedding to treat sick (ABC News)
➤ I got a manicure from a robot in San Francisco. Is this the future? (SF Gate)
➤ Amid pandemic, ‘Me Too’ comes to Egypt (ABC News)

See you tomorrow.

Mark Conley
Deputy Managing Editor