COVID-19

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County Health Department announced earlier this week that “sufficient progress” has been made vaccinating Phase 1a health care workers, and that providers may now begin to offer Covid-19 vaccine to residents age 75 years or older in Phase 1b, Tier...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County Board of Supervisors will review implementation of a countywide indoor mask mandate during a special meeting Wednesday.  The supervisors are expected to endorse it after earlier approving a mask mandate for all county buildings. The decision came after a late August...

Robert Hesse was expecting an imminent promotion to manager of Sub Zero Ice Cream, a nitrogen ice cream shop in Ventura, California, when it shut down in March because of the pandemic. “I like to work,” said Hesse, a college graduate who turns 26 on...

SOLEDAD — As the City of Soledad prepares for its centennial event, 2021 also marks the year one of its residents, Jennie Aquino, becomes a centenarian.  Aquino, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Jan. 27, was born in Mexico and came to the United States...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County’s health officer is joining 10 other officials from the Bay Area in stressing the importance of taking safety precautions, such as masking indoors, as the region experiences a new surge of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. The Bay Area now has...

CALIFORNIA — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced that the state is “setting our eyes on fully reopening by June 15 — with commonsense measures like masking.” Newsom made the announcement via Twitter, and reiterated the state’s plan to eventually forgo the current four-tiered,...

MONTEREY COUNTY — On Sept. 4, the federal unemployment insurance program, known as the Pandemic Unemployment Insurance benefit, created under the CARES Act, will expire in California and across the states. “Starting today, over 3 million California workers impacted by the expiration of these critical...

The push to mandate coronavirus vaccinations amid sharply rising caseloads nationwide accelerated Monday, as the country’s most populous state and its largest city both announced that they would require hundreds of thousands of government workers to get inoculations or face weekly testing. At the same...

In a sharp turnabout, federal health officials Thursday advised that Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus may stop wearing masks or maintaining social distance in most indoor and outdoor settings, regardless of size. The advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took a major step Tuesday toward coaxing Americans into a post-pandemic world, relaxing the rules on mask wearing outdoors as coronavirus cases recede and people increasingly chafe against restrictions. The mask guidance is modest and carefully...