This Week on the Central Coast

Pacific Grove's butterflies are in danger, Salinas converts a hotel into a homeless center, and the COVID vaccine comes to Monterey County

The number of monarch butterflies seems to be dwindling in Pacific Grove.

During an annual count, the number of butterflies was down by 500. Meanwhile, the numbers in Santa Cruz have more than doubled. It is believed that bad weather during the week of the count was to blame. However, with fewer trees in the area, the butterflies don’t have as many places to cluster and hide from the wind and cold.

This sad news follows the report that the Trump administration (source) has delayed endangered species protection for monarchs. Currently, there are 161 other species on the waitlist ahead of the monarch butterfly. Last year, the Trump administration altered the requirements for adding a species to the list, which makes it a longer process. As a result, many species have gone extinct while awaiting protection designation.

The city of Salinas has converted a hotel to house homeless residents.

The city was recently awarded over $9 million to buy and convert The Good Nite Inn. “Salinas is home to about a third of Monterey County's population, but the city accounts for nearly half of its homeless population.” Homelessness was a problem before COVID, but now, with the pandemic in full bloom, the need for shelter and services has increased.

Monterey County is getting ready to distribute the COVID vaccine.

The first round of vaccine is expected to be distributed to hospitals first. (source) The second round, which is expected sometime this week, is planned to go to other healthcare facilities and staff, such as skilled nursing homes and dialysis centers. If supplies are short, it is expected that the staff will be vaccinated first and then the patients.

A study by UC Berkley found that farmworkers are almost three times as likely to test positive as other groups. Local groups are appealing to Governer Newsom (source) to make the vaccine available sooner to food supply workers, along with teachers and first responders, since the agriculture industry is particularly important, not only for our area, but also for the country.

Even if the vaccine is available to them sooner, only half of the agriculture workers have said they would get vaccinated. The other half are worried about possible side effects or do not trust the government. Ultimately, this means family doctors will have a more important role in convincing the population to take the vaccine. (source) In addition, these family practices generally do not have much freezer space, which is needed to store the vaccine. It is great that there is an end to the pandemic in sight, but it will be a logistically challenging road ahead.