A new stay-at-home order takes effect, and history repeats.

A new stay-at-home order takes effect, and history repeats. 

Good afternoon. 

Sara Rubin here, writing four days before Monterey County’s new stay-at-home order takes effect, and nine months after the first stay-at-home order took effect. It feels both like no time has passed and an infinite amount of time has passed. And during that time, it’s been two steps forward and three steps back. And I should’ve gone to get a haircut this week. 

Even with vaccine development happening at unprecedented speed, and even with a distant light at the end of a long tunnel, the public is again being tasked with a tall order: to change how we live and to hunker down again as hospitals fill up and vaccine distribution begins. 

Monterey County Health Office Edward Moreno had the unpleasant task of announcing this news today, when the Board of Supervisors was already scheduled to meet in part to dole out unused CARES Act money to help local businesses survive. (They voted unanimously to allocate $800,000 to the Monterey County Small Business Relief Program, in addition to $878,643 of cannabis revenue allocated on Dec. 1—meaning that all 135 businesses in the pipeline for $10,000 grants can get those grants, and a second round of funding can also launch.) 

The backdrop is that local businesses are already hurting, and now will face a new shutdown through the holidays (the order is in effect until Jan. 11.) Dine-in restaurant service will shut down, non-essential travel is off, retailers are limited to 20-percent capacity, gyms and hair salons will close again, campgrounds will close, all multi-household gatherings will be banned—including over Christmas. 

Moreno presented the news in his usual sober, matter-of-fact tone today. The closest he came to making an emotional plea is to encourage people to comply, despite the understandable frustration. “If you’re a business owner and you want to remove the restrictions, part of that is going to depend on if the rest of us do our part,” he said. 

Public participation in public health is the hardest part of the equation. It’s especially hard as we’ve become more comfortable, maybe too comfortable, with socializing and traveling and finding a new normal as we continue to live our lives during a pandemic. But the health system is breaking, people are dying and ICUs are at or approaching capacity—all while the economy is breaking too. Meanwhile, Congress stalls over another Covid relief package (at least we have some new local funds to help fill that gap) and the light at the end of the tunnel looks as far away as it did in March. 

Stock up on your favorite movies and books, and pick up a copy of the Weekly tomorrow—our cover story is our Winter Survival Guide with ideas for how to stay engaged and creative during the season ahead, and there’s a Q&A with a counselor on how to practice self-care. We know more about the Covid-19 virus by now, and we also know more about how to endure in these difficult and isolating times. 

And stay safe and healthy out there. 

-Sara Rubin, editor, sara@mcweekly.com