As health professionals, government institutions and the public at large confront the novel coronavirus Covid-19, the Weekly has been reporting on various local effects of the virus. From health to event cancellations and economic impact, our coverage, from newest to oldest, is compiled here. For earlier stories going back to Jan. 30, 2020, click here. For an interactive Covid-19 tracker for Monterey and nearby counties click here.
Monterey County is one 13 mid-sized counties in California, defined for the purposes of this data presentation as a county whose populations i…
The city of Monterey is shutting down its beaches to all activities except water sports and imposing a mandatory facial covering order that co…
Piglet racing, corn dogs, petting zoos and rides. The Monterey County Fair is one of the showcases that brings these things together on the Pe…
Fifteen Monterey County residents have died due to complications of Covid-19 as of Tuesday, June 30, the Monterey County Health Department rep…
When the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted on May 26 to submit an application for expedited reopening of the local economy to the Cal…
Dakota Sandoval thought he had a really bad cold. Friends dropped off cold medicine at his door, but nothing could touch his cough or how terr…
In March, as Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered people to stay home at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in California, retailers and restaurants all …
Everything was set for the elaborate April 11 wedding of Anna Kong and Ali Maheri. Kong, who is of Chinese descent, had two dresses ready: a w…
As many restaurants have started coming back for dine-in service as Covid-19 guidelines allow them to, others have stuck with takeout-only, an…
The virtual world of jellyfish, sea otters, sharks and penguins streaming from the Monterey Bay Aquarium through the pandemic is about to once…
Monterey County residents are now free to mingle—within a stable group of 12 individuals called a “social circle” that will be together for fo…
For some business owners, Covid-19 hasn’t brought only tough times – it’s also brought new and exciting opportunities. At Post No Bills in San…
It was a bold idea to help struggling businesses during a pandemic that was perhaps too innovative for a town that values its Good Old Days. P…
FISHERMAN’S WHARF IS BUSTLING WITH VISITORS YEAR ROUND. They begin showing up at 6am to board fishing charter boats, followed by the next wave…
Just when you thought we’d hit bottom, Luna Mohammad is thinking about all of the other stuff that could go wrong. She works in the Monterey C…
In March, as life as everyone knows it was changing – as all restaurants were closing for dine-in service and some pivoting to take out as a w…
As of this morning, June 16, more than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Monterey County, since the first case was reported exact…
In early May, The Tuck Box, Carmel’s historic English tea room and restaurant, threw caution to the wind and opened its patio and dining room …
The Monterey County Health Department confirmed the county's 12th death due to complications from Covid-19 via a Twitter post today, June 14.
A Monterey County Superior Court employee who works at the Monterey courthouse has tested positive for Covid-19, and certain courthouse person…
Shortly after they were forced to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Monterey County schools started offering grab-and-go meals for children …
Monterey County saw today, June 12, its second-biggest spike ever in new confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The Salinas office of the California Department of Motor Vehicles on East Laurel Drive abruptly closed on Thursday, June 11, by order of Monte…
A staff member at the Monterey County Superior Courthouse in Marina has tested positive for Covid-19, and now all staff members there have bee…
As Monterey County moves forward into reopening, health officials expect Covid-19 cases to increase.
As Monterey County reopens for business, Covid-19 has not gone away. In fact, County Health Officer Edward Moreno expects to see an increase i…
A few months ago, you would not have found postal workers discussing a mask made out of underwear and cans of oxygen (those are to help keep u…
A Saturday around noon in early May, and the woman cleaning the windows on the inside of Villa Azteca offers a half-smile and a nod to the pai…
On a crisp fall night just four months before Covid-19 – what now feels like a lifetime ago – about 100 people gathered shoulder-to-shoulder a…
Libraries begin reopening for curbside pickup, ordering materials by mail and remote summer reading.
It's not just private businesses that have been champing at the bit to reopen. Included in Gov. Gavin Newsom's reopening phase 2.5, along with…
One more person has died from complications of Covid-19, bringing county's total to 11 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the Monterey Co…
Monterey County got the go-ahead from Health Officer Edward Moreno to reopen—or widen the opening—of more businesses including restaurants, ho…
Along with a rising national movement calling for an end to racism and police reforms, Black Lives Matter protests have continued in Monterey …
The fast-changing Covid-19 restrictions on what can and can't be open are changing again. The state is still in stage 2 (out of four stages un…
The city of Monterey beach order that prohibited people from sitting on the beach in order to slow the spread of Covid-19 is coming to an end.…
PK Diffenbaugh is a little perplexed. As superintendent of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, he’s wondering if people know what exac…
Maria Gonzalez remembers San Francisco’s late-night food offerings well. As bars shut down, food vendors emerged along the sidewalks of the Mi…
Over the past three months, restaurants, wineries and breweries have had to make major adjustments to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic. Th…
A shelter-in-place order means no leisure travel allowed, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people from flowing into the Monterey Peninsula…
Early in the pandemic, the Big Sur International Marathon was part of a wave of spring events that were canceled or rescheduled. At that time,…
You can now come to Big Sur. Just don’t bring a tent and sleeping bag.
One perk of pandemic times is coming to an end in Monterey as of today, June 1: free parking.
Monterey and Santa Cruz counties have been cleared by the California Department of Public Health to advance to the next stage of reopening dur…
Monterey County Superior Court will be back in session for jury trials on Monday, June 1. A shelter-in-place order is still in effect in Monte…
After two weeks of no new deaths linked to Covid-19, Monterey County officials reported two new deaths on Friday, May 29, bringing the total to 10.
IT DIDN’T SINK IN RIGHT AWAY THAT ALL THE CHERISHED SENIOR-YEAR TRADITIONS STUDENTS WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO WERE ABOUT TO VANISH BEFORE THEIR …
The economic damage to Monterey County, as the Covid-19 outbreak turned into a pandemic in March and most businesses were ordered to shut down…
HELTER SHELTER… Squid has stuck close to home during Monterey County’s shelter-in-place order, finding the outdoors much too peopley, as in, t…
For most people, $13.5 million sounds like a lot of money. For Matt Morgan, CFO at Montage Health, it’s not enough. That’s because the grants …
Covid-19 has created a lot of confusion, including over how to interpret the Monterey County shelter-in-place order issued April 3, which is s…
The first nights sleeping at the Oldemeyer Center were restless for Seaside Fire Capt. Jason Black. He and his crew had finished bringing over…
In pre-pandemic times, the Pacific Grove City Council appeared to be confidently heading for a ballot measure in the November 3 election propo…
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 today, May 26, to formally ask the governor to approve the next stage of reopening local bu…
Is Monterey County ready to reopen its economy? That is the big-picture question facing the County Board of Supervisors when they meet today, …
It’s perhaps a cruel joke that in the midst of California’s stay-at-home order, Friday, May 22, is National Road Trip Day.
I frequently receive communications reflecting on the unprecedented times in which we live. While specifics of the Covid-19 pandemic are uniqu…
At least one barrier to the reopening of the local economy came down this week.
On Thursday morning, May 21, Jeffrey LeTowt of The Tuck Box had his day in court. Or at least his first day of several.
On May 15, as patrons at his restaurant were enjoying a sunny day and food and drink in Carmel, The Tuck Box owner Jeff LeTowt was having what…
Dean Hidalgo has made many road trips along Highway 101 from Los Angeles to San Jose, and each time he would blink and miss a gem of Monterey County.
It’s a little tricky teaching recruits how to drive a police car over Zoom. There are online simulations, but when it comes down to it, nothin…
In her 245-square-foot studio apartment, Whitney Clark has decorated according to feng shui principles, with a purple rug in the bathroom for …
In April, during the first full month of the lockdown, water demand on the Monterey Peninsula dropped by 15 percent compared to the same month…
Carmel restaurant owner Jeffrey LeTowt wanted a fight and it looks like he's getting one.
Renters worried about the upcoming end of an eviction moratorium approved by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors in mid-March have a litt…
It’s been good fishing in Monterey Bay this year but for the past three months local sport fishermen and women have been left high and dry on …
Monterey County has another Covid-19 testing site up and running, and based on demand, staffing will be doubled.
While other Carmel restaurants are obeying the county’s shelter-in-place order by either remaining closed or offering take-out service, it’s b…
Recently the state of California and the Monterey County Health Department made two free Covid-19 testing sites available in the Salinas Valle…
A 74-year-old Latina woman and an 89-year-old African American man, both from the Salinas area, are the latest to die from complications due t…
Officials tried to warn the owner of The Tuck Box, Carmel’s historic English tea room and restaurant, three times that he was violating Monter…
The show will not go on this year.
In early March when the Monterey County Public Health Lab received its first batch of Covid-19 test kits, the message to the public was: Don’t…
When U.S. Forest Service officials last updated their announcement about the closure of roads and trails in Los Padres National Forest, on Apr…
There was little in 20 years of retail experience that prepared Mia Cruz, owner of Bliss Boutiques in Salinas and Monterey, for what happened …
In early March, Shirel Kahane-Rapport was sailing in the frigid waters off Antarctica and had not yet heard the news. There was little contact…
Last week, as I was headed home from my daily shelter-in-place walk through Oldtown Salinas, one of the affable security guards who patrols th…
What Maurizio Cutrignelli has in mind when he opened Osteria Al Mare in the second floor of a building at the base of the Coast Guard Pier was…
The Wendy Root Askew volunteer celebration rally on May 1 was in many ways a typical campaign rally. There was live music and speeches by elec…
The Weekly is tracking hospitalizations in Monterey County of people who have tested positive for the Covid-19 or who are suspected of having …
As the number of Covid-19 cases gets higher, the level of detail the Monterey County Health Department reports gets sharper. That's because th…
Nearly two months after California's Supreme Court chief justice suspended jury trials for 60 days in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic,…
State law requires all companies with 75 or more workers to give notice of layoffs or closures. Normally, these WARN notices—Worker Adjustment…
Phase two of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s four-phase plan to reopen the state goes into effect today, May 8, which means local last-minute Mother’s Day…
After schools across the county closed their doors due to Covid-19 and students transitioned to online distance leaning, many have struggled b…
The Monterey Recreation Division staff was still weighing on Monday, May 4, whether it could offer any type of summer camps during the Covid-1…
In June 2018, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors was facing a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall and the proposed elimination of dozen…
I’m scared. At 30 years old, I lost my job and had to come home and somehow explain to my then-pregnant wife, Marissa, that it wasn’t my fault…
Summer camp is a rite of passage for kids and a necessity for working parents but, like every aspect of life since Covid-19, its existence thi…
As Covid-19 spread across the globe approaching pandemic status, Monterey County’s four hospitals were already planning for a surge of patient…
RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT… Squid’s used sheltering in place to perfect Squid’s shrimp-flavored popcorn recipe, take long naps, scroll through Squ…
On a sunny afternoon in April, a Home Depot truck backs up into Cortni Knox’s driveway in Seaside to deliver her new, stainless steel, “super …
Remember when they said if shelter-in-place worked, we would all get angry and be in upheaval. Well, here we are. Shelter-in-place worked/s (“…
It's one of the silver linings of a pandemic and economic crisis: innovative solutions and partnerships. One such innovation—meant to help pro…
Nearly 55 people considered vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic who need a safe place to isolate themselves are being housed in Monterey C…
Two new Covid-19 testing sites have opened in Monterey County. The locations—one at the Greenfield branch of Monterey County Free Libraries, l…
Monterey County growers have plowed under or left unplanted more than 2,000 acres since the Covid-19 pandemic reached the area, according to a…
Local officials announced on May 2 the opening of Covid-19 testing sites in Salinas and Greenfield as a part of a state-wide to make testing m…
It’s the end of grades as we know them.
American flags were raised high and bright red "Make America Great Again" hats sprinkled the crowd. Nearly 100 protesters gathered at Window o…
The new Monterey County shelter-in-place order is requiring residents to hunker down for at least one more month, to May 31, but some activiti…
The Mee Memorial Healthcare System had already made some painful cuts to staff and services in 2019 and now the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing e…
After people swarmed beaches when the sun came out in Southern California last weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom was expected shut down all beaches i…
On a recent sunny morning in downtown Carmel, the smell of bacon wafted out of the Village Corner restaurant. Normally on a day like this, the…
The coronavirus epidemic and the subsequent public health shelter-in-place order that froze construction, among other industries, arrived just…
At Main Street Bakery, across the street from Salinas High and just a short walk from City Hall and the Monterey County Government Center, own…
That toilet paper became a precious commodity as people panic-purchased in the opening weeks of the shelter-in-place order didn’t come as a hu…
When Gabriel Flores arrived in Salinas from Los Angeles to do his medical residency at Natividad, he expected his work might include some comm…
OK KAREN… Squid sat in front of the television, transfixed by news reports of “Liberate” protests taking place around the country. Biped mamma…
Being a hotelier or short-term rental owner became tricky after the county’s shelter-in-place order was issued. Many hotels and inns around th…
On March 19, the very first week of the county’s shelter-in-place order, I wrote a column in which I stated, “People are suffering. People wil…
Jeremy Turner | Working at the Wharf
Effective at midnight tonight, a face-covering rule takes effect in Monterey County. The idea is that by blocking our noses and mouths when we…
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases among Monterey County residents is up to 191, according to the latest Health Department data. Almost ev…
Starting Thursday, residents of Monterey County will be required to cover their faces while venturing outside their homes in a new county Heal…
The 110th California Rodeo Salinas is moving from July 16-19 to October 8-11, after organizers learned the shelter-in-place order was going to…
Just days after County Health Officer Edward Moreno said that the public should expect a requirement to wear masks or face coverings when in p…
Spartan is the word that best describes the accommodations at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, where Monterey County officials are working on …
Faced with uncertainty about when we can again pack concert halls, Bach Festival cancels 2020 event.
Over 85 years, since it was founded, the Carmel Bach Festival has put on concerts big and small. There are choral ensembles in churches, conte…
Right before Easter weekend, City Manager Ben Harvey gave the Pacific Grove Police Department the authority to immediately shut down any outdo…
With the shelter-in-place order, everyone has a few challenges, especially parents. Every parent wonders about managing their bundles of energ…
Beer and cider sales are up 20 percent across the country during this extended coronavirus lockdown, which makes sense considering that drinki…
More than 25 people have been hospitalized and four people have died as of the latest Covid-19 numbers for Monterey County, but there is a hid…
First, the good news: Monterey County's shelter-in-place order is working, keeping the doubling rate of Covid-19 cases to about 14 days—a win …
The Federal Aviation Administration is cutting the hours the air traffic control tower is open at Monterey Regional Airport and about 100 othe…
April is traditionally the time car aficionados preparing to show their collectible cars during Monterey County's Car Week in August have to g…
Richard Kuehn has spent the past 10 years building a business that sends caregivers into seniors’ homes throughout the Monterey Peninsula to a…
With limited flights and government restrictions on medical exports out of China, some in Monterey County are turning to personal connections …
On March 31, Chris Sommers, managing director of the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa, sent a letter to the county Board of Supervisors that jus…
“The CARES Act works for ALL Americans,” touts the U.S. Treasury website, the agency dispensing $2 trillion worth of stimulus checks, Paycheck…
Isolation is often the enemy of those struggling with addictions, making what’s supposed to keep people safe in a pandemic dangerous for those…
For the last few years Patricia Hamilton has spent a month each year vacationing in Álamos, Mexico. This year was a special occasion: her frie…
Todd and Jordan Champagne are no strangers to culinary survival techniques. Consider that 20 years ago, they could be spotted hovering over a …
UPDATED April 30: On Wednesday, April 29, Monterey City Council voted unanimously to implement the proposed layoff plan.
The dollar figure might not look like much compared to the federal CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security), which started a…
Teachers, students and administrators have gotten through the initial shock of closing schools and transitioning to remote learning. Systems w…
The Monterey County Fairgrounds exhibition halls that feature farm, craft and baking exhibits during the fair and host a rotating lineup of li…
Monterey County's fourth death due to complications from Covid-19 has been reported by the Monterey County Health Department, nearly two weeks…
In a time that many businesses have been deemed nonessential and forced to shut down, California's relatively new cannabis industry got a repr…
LINK: here’s how to get to the map and start exploring.
The Monterey Police Department wants you to know that if you operate your business in violation of the shelter-in-place order, undercover dete…
From the safety of their coronavirus shelters, the water warriors of the Monterey Peninsula carry on the fight, and so can you.
Feeling like, with all this time on your hands, now might be a great time to explore the natural wonders of Big Sur?
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans on April 15 to make $75 million available to help undocumented workers left out of unemployement relief prog…
The Monterey Bay Aquarium closed to the public on March 12, but still made public outreach a priority, through its massive and charming presen…
Facing possibly $10 million in estimated in revenue losses in the last few months of this fiscal year due to Covid-19, the city of Monterey is…
Less than two months ago, things were looking up for the 2020 racing season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Normally, the staff of Salinas-based agribusiness D’Arrigo Brothers are planning one to two years out what they’ll plant on which ranches, bas…
In the parking lot of The Budget Inn Motel in South Salinas, owner Joel Patel is anxious to show his unexpected visitors the measures he’s put…
Scene One, in which our main character is on the phone frantically trying to make travel arrangements to get to New York City from Salinas.
The changed world in this pandemic means some people are working longer hours than ever, while many are working not at all. As Monterey County…
The Covid-19 pandemic threw the Monterey County 2020 Census Complete Count Committee a “curveball,” chairperson Rosemary Soto says. Plans had …
Donna Aikins needed an appointment with her doctor to get some questions answered after she had surgery last fall. She was trying to get an ap…
For years, bartending was a fallback gig for Kelly Kuhn, a way to make extra money while she pursued other jobs – teaching, tutoring, selling …
RICK AND ROLL… Squid hasn’t been sheltering alone. In addition to Rosco P. Coltrane, Squid’s beloved bulldog, Squid’s sister, an undersea heal…
Anticipating a possible surge in Covid-19 cases, Monterey County announced on April 14 where it might set up field hospitals for patients and …
The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (that's CARES for short) allocates money to a whole bunch of specific things, f…
The CEO of a Chinese agricultural machinery company is donating 20,000 disposable gloves to Monterey County for its coronavirus containment ef…
On April 14, four weeks to the day that Monterey County Health Officer Edward Moreno announced his shelter-in-place order to stop the spread o…
It’s actually happening. The economic impact payments—as much as $1,200 per person—have started to arrive in the bank accounts of Americans, i…
That stuff you don’t want anymore that’s piled high in your garage or in closets? No one else wants it during the Covid-19 pandemic either, so…
With no end in sight to the coronavirus outbreak, Monterey County’s election officials are scared of a problem that's nearly seven months away…
The U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act—that's CARES, for short—is a massive $2 trillion aid package signed into law by Pr…
ARCpoint Labs is located in a rather sleepy neighborhood, Laguna Seca Office Park just off Highway 68, at the end of a cul-de-sac. For the pas…
The number of places to get out and enjoy nature over the Easter holiday weekend is shrinking, but there are still some opportunities—as long …
Here's how to rile up a workforce.
Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, was raised in farmworker housing, and in his first term as a member of the Assembly, has made a custom of defending…
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is now recommending that we wear masks if we leave our homes to be out in public. Medical facilities need…
As many as 300,000 ratepayers on Central Coast of California could see a significant drop in their electricity bill for the months of May and June.
Call it the Covid-19 business bump.
Some of the most effective help in supplying first responders with high-grade masks in Monterey County is coming from the local Chinese community.
NETFLIX AND SHILL… Squid has entered that phase of sheltering in place where time, space and logic have no meaning. Squid thought about trying…
Julie Brooks and her co-workers at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa were preparing for a large banquet happening the night of March 12…
Ernest Rodriguez doesn’t necessarily present as someone who knows his way around banking and finance. Maybe it’s the neck tattoo. But like the…
Ron Mendoza is a natural-born pressure player. At the level he’s cooked at, and the people he’s cooked with, he’s had to be.
It’s been a rainy and cold spring, meaning a slow start to the Salinas Valley’s agricultural season which usually ramps up right around now. T…
For one family living at the end of a cul-de-sac in South Salinas, there’s a distinct upside to the coronavirus crisis…
A person who was hospitalized at Salinas Valley Memorial hospital has died of complications of Covid-19, spokesperson Karina Rusk confirmed on…
It started with a press release on Sunday, April 5, a week ahead of Easter, meant to reaffirm that holiday or no holiday, social distancing ru…
Click here to reach the Weekly’s Covid-19 tracker.
It is one of many cruel realities of what is a very cruel pandemic—as doctors, nurses and medical technicians are trying to keep up their numb…
In his effort to relieve small businesses that are hurting during the coronavirus crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom on April 2 signed an executive ord…
In this time of economic hardship, some landlords are going to have to get creative. Officials working for the city of Monterey, in its role a…
Monterey County officials thought they were doing a good thing.
UPDATE: Monterey County Superior Court has issued what it's calling a "clarification" to a previous directive that all employees currently wor…
In order to protect the privacy of patients who test positive for Covid-19, the Monterey County Health Department releases limited information…
Four people in their 20s hanging out at 8pm on a Friday night—totally normal, right? Well, not during a pandemic and with a shelter-in-place o…
As commerce in Monterey County came to a near standstill over the past few weeks, construction was one of the few industries to continue opera…
Click here to reach the new Covid-19 tracker.
Remember two months ago when health experts were saying masks were only for the sick and probably wouldn't help if you're well? That was then,…
Social distancing is working, said Monterey County Health Officer Edward Moreno in a press briefing call on Friday, April 3. Before the shelte…