This Week on the Central Coast
The Beacon House closes, Aloha Coffee vs. Monterey, The Aquarium helps with vaccine storage, and a Santa Cruz man builds homes for the homeless.
The Beacon House in Pacific Grove announced its closure.
The Beacon House opened in 1959 and has helped thousands of people with substance abuse disorders and mental health issues. Senior Vice President Teresa Garate attributed the House’s closure to the pandemic, saying that their industry has been impacted negatively and that insurance reimbursement has been deteriated. The Beacon House will be permanently closed after December 31, 2020.
Aloha Coffee had its health permit revoked.
Health inspectors had given several warnings in the form of “educational visits”. Aloha Coffee owner, Richard Dunnuck, claims to have ignored the mask-wearing ordinances due to health and religious reasons. Dunnuck plans to sue Monterey County for $10 million dollars for violating his rights.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is lending its ultra-cold freezer to Natividad Hospital to store the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The Aquarium’s freezer was transported to the hospital just days before the vaccine arrived. The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Natividad hospital had planned to use dry ice to store the vaccine, but the Aquarium’s freezer is much less work to maintain at the low temperature.
Alekz Londos of Santa Cruz is helping the homeless by building micro tiny homes.
Londos explained that the homeless people of Santa Cruz do not necessarily want tiny homes, but want safe places to sleep and keep their belongings. He admits that this is more a bandaid than an answer to the problem, but wanted to do something to help. One homeless man expressed his gratitude and pointed out that the pandemic has made it difficult to trust going to homeless shelters.
This past week, our COVID positivity nearly reached 30%! Remember to shelter in place and wear a mask when you must go out.
For more information on Monterey County’s COVID-19 numbers, check out this Reddit user’s graphs on Imgur. They update every week and cover a variety of statistics, including case counts by city. Here is the original Reddit post, which gives greater detail of their sources, including the state of California and CHOMP.