Health Officer Gail Newel said Tuesday that while Santa Cruz County officials are discussing whether to follow most of the Bay Area in returning to a mask mandate, the area has a lower case rate and better hospital capacity than neighboring counties. Still, she said that two recent deaths are likely COVID-related, the first such fatalities since March.
Recovery & Reopening
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Hollywood struggles to keep cameras rolling as Delta variant spreads
COVID-19’s Delta variant is causing problems for a film industry that is trying to work at full speed. A number of TV shows and movies have had outbreaks, including 12 cases linked to the set of Fox’s “The Masked Singer.”
Posted inCoast Life
Disneyland has a new annual pass program. Here’s everything you need to know
The new Disneyland Magic Key annual pass program, on sale starting Aug. 25, will require reservations, a change aimed at quelling overcrowding at the parks. Options range from $1,399 to $399.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Restoring a sense of belonging: The unsung importance of casual relationships for older adults
Relationships with people you know only superficially can help develop a sense of belonging and provide motivation to engage in activities. Research has found that older adults who have a broad array of “weak” as well as “close” ties enjoy better physical and psychological well-being and live longer than people with less diverse social networks.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Bay Area counties mandate indoor masks as Delta variant rages; Santa Cruz stands pat
Officials in a large swath of the Bay Area announce residents will again need to wear masks in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status. Neighboring Santa Clara and San Mateo are among the counties reinstituting the mandate, but Santa Cruz County is sticking to recommending, not requiring, masks indoors.
Posted inCOVID Today
San Lorenzo Valley bar temporarily closes due to positive COVID-19 cases
Joe’s Bar in Boulder Creek has announced it will be temporarily closing for a week due to positive COVID-19 results in both patrons and staff. The announcement came via Joe’s Facebook page.
Posted inCOVID Today
As fears of the Delta variant grow in the San Lorenzo Valley, are vaccine numbers keeping pace?
Vaccination rates in the upper parts of the San Lorenzo Valley, Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek in particular, “are about 10% lower than the rest of the county,” Santa Cruz County spokesperson Jason Hoppin said.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Delta worries strike again: SCPD movie night at Kaiser Permanente Arena postponed
Citing concerns about the Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, the Santa Cruz Police Department put off an indoor, family-focused event scheduled for Tuesday night that was to include a showing of the movie “Zootopia.”
Posted inHealth & Wellness
What is it about the Delta variant that makes it spread so easily?
By now, we all know that the Delta variant is about twice as transmissible as the original coronavirus. As one virologist put it: “If you think of the individual particles as machine-gun fire, the Delta variant is shooting at us at 1,000 rounds per second, while previous variants were only shooting at one round per second.”
Posted inBusiness & Technology
COVID vaccinations lag for people on Medi-Cal
In all California counties, Medi-Cal enrollees have been vaccinated at substantially lower rates than the overall population. Santa Cruz County is above the state average with 54.4% of eligible Medi-Cal enrollees having had at least one shot, but that figure is nearly 20% lower than the county average. Experts point to several factors for this economic divide, like the inability of low-income people to take time off work.