County readies for the Fourth
SANTA CRUZ >> This year’s Fourth of July holiday in Santa Cruz County comes with good and bad news, as with much of 2020 to date: The beaches are open, but maybe don’t go.
Reported COVID-19 infections began slowly trending upward in early May in Santa Cruz County, with a significant spike in its cases and its per-capita rate in the past month, according to county data. However, it remains far from making it onto the state’s county monitoring list, Newel said. Three consecutive days on the socalled watch list, informed by number of daily tests, patient positivity rate; capacity of hospitals, ventilators and intensive care beds, and case rates over the previous 14 days, earns a county a mandate from the state to roll back some of its economic reopening.
“We are looking so much better than the rest of the state that we have never been flagged,” Newel said. “I don’t want the public to feel too comfortable, because we have had huge increases in our numbers of cases and our case rate.”
Less than a week after County Health Officer Gail Newel dissolved a daytime beach closure, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered bars and many indoor businesses in 19 counties to shutter and for parking lots at state beaches throughout the Bay Area — extending down to Monterey and Santa Cruz County — and parts of Southern California to close. Newel said in an interview Thursday that she previously had kept daytime beach closures in place not because beaches present heightened opportunities to contract COVID-19, but because they draw too many people into the county. With the state’s reopening of camping, hotels and other tourist draws, keeping Santa Cruz beaches closed was equivalent to “talking out of both sides of our mouth,” Newel said.
“When we look at what’s causing our new cases, we’re not seeing them in the businesses that have reopened,” Newel said. “It’s not the businesses per se, it’s that when the public saw the reopenings, the public got the message, ‘Ok, the virus risk is less now. We can go out and do what we used to do, and behave like we used to behave.’”
The opposite is true, Newel said.
The county is at its height of known COVID-19 infected patients active at one time that it has had to date, Newel said. As of Thursday, county data showed 153 active cases. It is too early to see the impacts of recent large-scale gatherings related to local memorials for members of law enforcement or Black Lives Matter protests, she said.
“People need to be more careful, they need to be more concerned about keeping that 6-foot distance between themselves and others, about wearing their face coverings when they’re out and about, about staying home if they’re ill. All of those usual precautions,” Newel said. “What we’re seeing in our community as the main mode of transmission is gatherings.”
Similarly, the Santa Cruz and Capitola city mayors have issued statements urging citizens to practice personal responsibility during the pandemic.
“Santa Cruz has been a leader in the State in minimizing the impacts of COVID-19,” Santa Cruz Mayor Justin Cummings wrote. “I urge our residents to continue to lead by example. Consider staying at home or seeking outdoor venues other than the beaches for holiday celebrations. We are not only responsible for our own health, but also the health of the most vulnerable residents in our community.”
Fourth of July celebrations may inspire residents to gather in defiance of the state and county’s still-active stay-at-home orders, Newel said. Those who get together can play it safe, however, by gathering outdoors, keeping the events short, wear face coverings and keep 6 feet apart, limit group sizes and avoid sharing food, utensils, dishes and sporting equipment, she said.
With the cancellation of community-organized annual Fourth of July celebrations and fireworks displays, some communities are offering alternative ideas. The city of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation is promoting the watching of “virtual fireworks” on Saturday with use of the free TotalAR app from 9 p.m. to midnight. “The app puts dazzling displays in the sky as if you’re standing right under them,” according to the city. The app can be downloaded by visiting totalar.com/ar-app.html.
The Aptos Chamber of Commerce, behind previous years’ World’s Shortest Parade, is encouraging community members to celebrate “Independence Week” by decorating their homes, businesses and vehicles “and celebrate our Independence — Independently!”