Complete coronavirus coverage from the Napa Valley Register, St. Helena Star, and The Weekly Calistogan: Fall/Winter 2020 edition
This webpage contains all Napa County coronavirus coverage as featured in the Napa Valley Register, St. Helena Star and The Weekly Calistogan. This page will be updated as news comes in. Please bookmark this page to stay on top of local developments.
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(11) updates to this series since Updated
Starting Tuesday, restaurants and wine tasting rooms will not be allowed to serve the public indoors. Houses of worship also can only operate outdoors.Â
Amid the pandemic's upsurge this fall, Napa residents — and visitors to the valley — are paring down their holiday guest lists to keep safe and stop the spread.Â
The rise in local COVID-19 cases has not yet translated into a dramatic increase in hospitalizations, Queen of the Valley reports.Â
Napa County plummeted overnight into to the purple "tier" and many local business owners are scrambling.Â
A resident reports that 11 people living at the home, including three in nursing care, have tested positive for the virus.
Five employees and 18 students attending classes at NVUSD schools have contracted the coronavirus since late October, the district superintendent announced Thursday.
Cases rose by over 50% this week, setting the county up for possibly more restrictions on businesses as soon as next week.
Senator Bill Dodd’s latest town hall featured experts who spoke about how 2021 might shape up for Napa County.
Social gatherings in homes are a major source of new COVID cases in the state.
Major holiday celebrations are being canceled due to the pandemic which continues to reshape community life.Â
Sixty percent of new cases were people who identified as Hispanic/Latinx, the county reported.Â
Napa County's hotel occupancy rate in September was 43%, well off the 78% rate for the same month in 2019, according to a study shared with the City Council.
In California, 33 percent of small business owners were unable to pay their full rent on time this month. The number was higher for minority-owned small businesses - about 38 percent.
Latinos make up 40% of the Golden State's population, but 60% of its COVID-19 cases and 48.5% of its deaths.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is imposing an overnight curfew on most of California, including Napa County, as the most populous state tries to head off a surge in coronavirus cases
Bill Dodd was among the group of lawmakers that attended the four-day annual Independent Voter Project's policy conference.
Trip was criticized for occurring during surge in COVID-19 cases.Â
COVID-19 cases this week were three to four times higher than October reports, according to the county.Â
A model calculates a 12% chance that a guest at a small dinner party in Napa Valley is infected with the virus. Whether indoors or outdoors, dining in a restaurant is “amongst the riskiest things we do for COVID,” a UC San Francisco health expert said.
Newsom, his wife and four children, ages 4 to 11, all tested negative for the virus on Sunday, spokesman Jesse Melgar said in an emailed statement.
Nine people with COVID diagnoses are currently hospitalized, the county said.
New biz alert:Â Honey Whiskey Boutique now open in First Street Napa.Â
When California-based writer Diane Covington Carter went to New Zealand last January, she didn't know that almost a year later, she'd still be there, due to the coronavirus.Â
The family's attorney argues that the sheriff's video of the incident suggests that Nylander intended to surrender.
Napa County is under a limited stay-at-home order imposed last week on the state's purple tier counties. Local law enforcement asks for cooperation from residents.
Backed by the state’s attorney general and welcomed by labor advocates as better late than never, California's new policy will start to hold businesses accountable for protecting their workers, mandate reporting outbreaks and decrease crowding in housing for vulnerable guest farmworkers spotlighted in a California Divide investigation.
Law enforcement issued more search warrants in the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart.
Expectations of a major development in the Kristin Smart case came from a 'former FBI agent.'
There may be developments in the 1996 disappearance of the daughter of a Napa high school principal.Â
Consider these recommended actions to be penance for your travel indulgence, health experts say.Â
The California Rebuilding Fund supports small businesses in economically disadvantaged and historically under-banked areas.
The county is likely to set a record this week for new COVID-19 cases.Â
The Police Department will double down on procedures that minimize risks for officers and the public.
The Supreme Court told California judges on Thursday to take another hard look at state rules that ban most indoor worship services.
Napa Valley restaurants, shops and wineries are bracing for further operating restrictions this month if hospital intensive care units in the Bay Area fill up.
Gov. Gavin Newsom mostly ducked a series of questions about whether state officials have hard evidence that new business closures will slow the spread of the coronavirus.
With winter coming the Oxbow Public Market is enhancing its health and safety protocols.Â
The state imposed a nighttime curfew for the state's hardest-hit counties, saying it was crucial to decrease transmission and slow hospitalizations.
Under the restrictions, restaurants must stop outdoor dining, personal care businesses such as barbers must close and the number of people allowed inside stores is reduced. Residents are asked to stay home except for essential activities.
Two of the programs at the Napa Farmers Market are helping combat sky-rocketing food insecurity in the community.Â
The next free COVID-19 testing at the Napa County Fairgronds will be Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 28 - 29, by appointment only.Â
In the Bay Area, San Mateo, Napa and Solano counties are not yet under lockdown.
Confused about whether it's OK to stay in a hotel or vacation rental under California's stricter stay-home rules? You aren't alone.
Statewide, just 2.5 percent of ICU beds are still available, Newsom said.
The 454,000 doses of vaccine that have been administered in California represent just a quarter of the more than 1.7 million doses received in the state.Â
The doses were dispensed to county workers, including sheriff's deputies and jail staff. Jail inmates also received the vaccine.
As case counts and hospitalizations rise, the county's hospitals will be forced to increase staff to patient ratios in their intensive care units, officials say.Â
Three firefighters from the Calistoga Fire Department have traveled to Southern California to lend their assistance and serve on a Covid Strike Team.Â
Adaptation is one of our strongest traits as human beings and virtual gatherings are the proof, says columnist Eduardo Dingler.
An employee at the Napa Nob Hill branch said that many employees are scared to speak up about their fears of catching or giving others COVID-19.
An audit recommends that if state officials are again tasked by Congress with the job this year, they "should more equitably distribute that future COVID‑19‑related funding."
At noon on Friday, the Times-Herald found 10 sit-down diners seated outdoors under a tent at Chevy's and photographed it.
COVID-19 cases in California are not currently growing at an exponential rate, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in a Tuesday news briefing.
If the state increases the pace of its vaccinations by 50 percent, half of its residents could be vaccinated by Labor Day.
The vaccination hub, dubbed My Turn, uses technology from Salesforce and Skedulo and is currently being piloted in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
The release came because of improving intensive care unit forecasts statewide