By Chris Finnie
The Santa Cruz County Health Officer, Dr. Gail Newel, issued a revised shelter-in-place order that took effect on May 1, 2020, and makes some significant changes:
Beaches
County beaches will be closed from 11 :00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., daily. But you can still engage in ocean sports like surfing, boogie-boarding, swimming, paddle-boarding, kayaking, or boating—and are allowed to cross beaches to enter and leave the ocean. During the times that beaches are open, they are to be used only for running, walking, cycling, water sports, or other form of physical activity. Sitting, lying, standing, sunbathing, sightseeing, picnicking, and all other non-exercise, passive, or sedentary activities at beaches are prohibited. In addition, you can’t have the following items on beaches: umbrellas, shade structures, tents, barbeques and grills, coolers, beach chairs, or anything else used to sit or lie on. Beach parkways (streets, sidewalks, esplanades, or parks immediately adjacent to or abutting beaches or shoreline areas) remain open, but only for running, walking, cycling, or other form of physical activity.
County Sheriff Jim Hart said his office would enforce these limits. “The Sheriff’s Office, the police departments and State Parks will do everything we can to support the Health Officer and enforce her revised order.”
Expanded Essential Business Activities
State orders now allow for non-essential medical and dental procedures, and the county has followed suit. This includes preventive care. Local hospitals and healthcare systems are preparing to safely offer services such as elective surgeries, mammography, well-child visits, dental visits, and other services which may have been delayed.
The order also permits certain real estate activities to resume if they comply with physical distancing requirements and other orders. Residential moves are also allowed, though the Health Department recommends a 14-day period of quarantine if you’re moving from one county to another.
New and used vehicle sales are now allowed.
And construction businesses, along with related services such as surveying and site investigation, may resume. This also includes arborists, landscapers, gardeners, environmental site remediation, and similar service professionals. In addition, wholesale and retail establishments supporting these activities—such as garden centers, agricultural operations, and nurseries—may serve the public. In order to operate, these businesses are required to comply with social distancing requirements and other applicable orders.
Under the revised order, all essential businesses are required to follow minimum basic safety precautions, including physical distancing and face covering requirements, and to post health and safety information.
Child Care
Childcare establishments, summer camps, and other educational or recreational institutions or programs can now provide care or supervision for children of owners, employees, volunteers, and contractors for essential businesses, or essential governmental functions—with the following conditions:
They must be carried out in stable groups of 12 or fewer children—meaning that the same children are in the same group each day
Children can’t change from one group to another
If there’s more than one group of children at one facility, each group has to be in a separate room
Required Face Coverings
In addition to maintaining at least six-foot social distancing from people you’re not living with, washing your hands a lot, covering coughs and sneezes with something other than your hands, and staying home COMPLETELY if you’re sick, another health order on April 23, 2020 mandates that we all use face coverings when we’re in public. Specifically, that means:
When you’re inside of or in line to enter a public business or service. It includes government, healthcare, and vet services. This also includes using a drive-up or walk-up window.
When you are waiting for or riding on public transportation, paratransit; or are in a taxi, private car service, or ride-sharing vehicle. Drivers have to wear them at all times, even when the vehicle is empty.
Employees, contractors, owners, and volunteers need to wear a face covering at the workplace and when performing work off-site if they are interacting in person with any member of the public, working in any space visited by members of the public, working in any space where food is prepared or packaged for sale or distribution to others, working in or walking through common areas
A face covering means a covering made of cloth, fabric, or permeable materials; without holes; that covers only the nose and mouth and surrounding areas of the lower face. Examples of face coverings include a scarf or bandana; a neck gaiter; a homemade covering made from a t-shirt, sweatshirt, or towel; or a mask. They can be factory-made or handmade.
However, any mask that incorporates a one-way valve (typically a raised plastic cylinder about the size of a quarter on the front or side of the mask) that is designed to facilitate easy exhaling, doesn’t comply with the order.
Volunteers have been busy making masks for those who need them and are providing them for free, though they usually welcome donations to pay for materials. A number of community groups in the area are handing them out.
Or you can make your own. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a video that shows how to make, wear, and clean a face covering at: www.cdc.gov/ corona virus/ 2019-ncov /prevent-getting-sick/ div-cloth-face-coverings.html
For More Information
To review the order in full, and for more information on COVID-19 in Santa Cruz County, as well as to see places to make donations, see santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus.
And stay well.