COVID-19

WATSONVILLE—A group of about 30 nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital held a demonstration Wednesday asking that management keep nurse-to-patient ratios at their present level. The demonstration came five days after the California Department of Public Health sent a memo to the state’s general acute care...

CENTRAL COAST—The Central Coast Section, the local governing body for schools stretching from San Francisco along the coast to King City, this week unveiled its plans for the fall sports season and beyond.  The governing board on Tuesday announced in a press release that mid-December...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (COE) has launched a dashboard that summarizes Covid-19 testing results across schools countywide. The dashboard is a partnership with school districts, Inspire Diagnostics and the Santa Cruz County Department of Public Health, COE spokesman Nick Ibarra...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday unanimously approved a plan to ease graduation requirements for high school students whose academic record has been damaged by the distance-learning requirements of Covid-19 restrictions. Under the plan, students at risk of failing a...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A new Covid-19 booster vaccine is now available throughout Santa Cruz County. Following recent approval by the FDA and CDC, the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup also recommends either the Pfizer or Moderna bivalent booster to be given two months after the...

The Santa Cruz County Public Health Division is monitoring confirmed reports of Covid-19 cases involving variants found in Santa Cruz County, spokesman Jason Hoppin said in a press release Monday. Two cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, known generally as the U.K. variant, have been identified...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Santa Cruz County health officials’ prediction that residents would be frustrated over not being able to find a Covid-19 vaccine after the state expanded its eligibility to most Californians earlier this month has not come true. Instead, the demand for the inoculation has...

WATSONVILLE—Obtaining a Covid-19 test in Watsonville is still a challenge for some, as long waits and limited options are plaguing those that might have been exposed and are asymptomatic but need a test to find out if they can safely return to work. The OptumServe...

CENTRAL COAST—The Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas (CSVS) is now hosting a pop-up Covid-19 testing site every Saturday at Las Lomas Market, bringing a much-needed resource to the small rural community in the northern reaches of Monterey County. The pop-up site is one...

WATSONVILLE—If all goes according to plan, Watsonville’s Ramsay Park over the next five years will become the “community space that it really needs to be,” says city of Watsonville Administrative Services Director Cindy Czerwin. The City plans to pump roughly $22 million in local, state...