COVID-19

WATSONVILLE—All major City of Watsonville events have been canceled through the end of the year, City Manager Matt Huffaker said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. That includes the annual Spirit of Watsonville Fourth of July Parade, the Watsonville Strawberry Festival and the Wine, Beer and...

WATSONVILLE—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday updated its recommendations for personal and social activities, giving people a brief playbook of how they can lessen their chance of contracting the novel coronavirus while dining at restaurants, using gyms and attending gatherings. Though health...

Johanna Miller A lot has happened since I last wrote for About Town. The global COVID-19 crisis is unlike anything most of us have experienced. While I’m grateful that my friends and family are safe and healthy, I cannot help but worry every day.  My job...

Editor's note: This story has been updated from an previous version. WATSONVILLE—A total of 43 residents and 12 staff members of Watsonville Nursing Center and Post Acute Care have tested positive for Covid-19, Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency spokeswoman Corinne Hyland confirmed Thursday. “We’re working...

WATSONVILLE—To say Watsonville City Councilman Francisco “Paco” Estrada had mixed feelings about the emergence of the four Covid-19 ‘clusters’ in Watsonville would be an understatement. The spike in cases was traced back to four separate family gatherings during Mother’s Day weekend, including one in which...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly burglarizing a business that is making hand sanitizer for the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. Dustin Dean Davis, 47, was charged with burglary, looting during a state of emergency and violating the county’s shelter-in-place order. He also faces...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County officials on Tuesday are expected to discuss whether the county will join five other Bay Area counties in preemptively adhering to the regional stay-at-home order recently issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Although the item is not agendized for tomorrow’s Santa...

A majority of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Monterey County are in people 49 years old or younger. That’s according to data released by county officials Saturday, which provided new details on the age, gender and region of residence of the county's 34 confirmed cases. Twenty-one...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Officials at Pacific Coast Manor have reported that 61 of their residents and 37 staff members have tested positive for Covid-19. Four residents of the skilled nursing facility in Capitola have also died of Covid-19 complications, the facility reported Wednesday. Sixteen of the...

WATSONVILLE—The city of Watsonville hired Katie Nuñez in March of last year to supervise the Watsonville Senior Center. Her tasks then were to bring the community hub into the 21st century, and create a slew of programs for the area’s older adults. But just two...