Written by Caitlynn Woods (Features Writer)
As the shelter in place orders come to a closing, and the Santa Cruz County Covid-19 cases drop rapidly, there is nothing better to think about than what has, or will be open when all restrictions are lifted. Things like restaurants, theme parks, stores and businesses, and ways of traveling are all to be considered within this article.
To begin, certain restaurants that have already opened within our county would be restaurants such as Casa Nostra, Empire Grill, Redwood Pizzeria, Stonehouse, Spanky’s cafe, Chubby’s, and more have already successfully opened to dine-in. The restaurants that are currently closed for dine-in, but still open for takeout or delivery are Taqueria Vallarta, Sushi San, Rocky’s cafe, and Round Table Pizza. Since Santa Cruz County is currently in the orange tier for covid-19 cases, most restaurants are beginning to open back up, leaving little space for takeout exclusive establishments.
Some small businesses and more local stores to be, or have been opened with continued covid restrictions are gift stores like Zinnias, Ferrari Florists, the Dollar Tree, Goodwill, Scarborough hardware, gyms, and many more stores have opened as well. Larger shopping centers such as the Capitola Mall, Macy’s, Target, Sears, and Ross have been opened to the public for a considerable amount of time as well.
Something that everyone has undeniably missed since March of 2020 is theme parks such as the Boardwalk, Great America, Disneyland, Six Flags, and more. It is a pleasure to say that the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Six Flags, and Disneyland have all been reopened since April of 2021, however, Great America is not going to open until May 22nd of 2021.
Branching off the topic of theme parks, ways of traveling such as airports have been open to the public with various restrictions for the past while. Nonetheless, the places that you can travel to have been limited since the beginning of shelter-in-place orders all around the world. It is recommended to delay traveling until fully vaccinated to prevent the contraction and spread of Covid-19. However, that doesn’t stop some people. Airports remain open, as of right now, but due to precautions, there are tests and quarantines that you must wait through in order to travel to certain places. In order to travel to states such as Hawaii, you must first be tested for covid-19, as well as quarantined for 72 hours straight without exception.
As the world opens back up into what it was pre- March of 2020, and restrictions are being lifted, we must still be careful of contracting and spreading coronavirus for our own health and the health of our communities. Masks are necessary for all scenarios, whether it is stores, restaurants, theme parks, airports, and everywhere else. Whether you have a vaccine or not, it is still important to watch out for the virus, as you potentially put many other individuals in your family and community at risk. No matter how much the world opens back up, as of right now, covid-19 still exists.
The Claw 