Following Governor Gavin Newsom’s March 4 declaration of a state of emergency and Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital’s March 13 announcement that there is currently one active case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in San Benito County, the Hollister City Council held an emergency meeting March 13 to proclaim a state of emergency and establish an emergency council.
City of Hollister creates Disaster Council
The council voted on six resolutions related to COVID-19, 4-0. Councilman Marty Richman was absent due to an illness, and Councilman Rolan Resendiz participated in the meeting by phone. Mayor Ignacio Velazquez said the council was taking the emergency action in order to assure the city had the state and federal resources it needed to keep the community as safe as possible.
“We’re going to be working with the county, school districts and all other agencies and the hospital to make sure everybody’s up to date with current information,” Velazquez said.
The council voted and passed all six resolutions to address the COVID-19 issue without discussion and proclaiming the existence of a local emergency. The first resolution created the city of Hollister Disaster Council with the mayor as the chair. Also on the council are Interim City Manager Brett Miller, City Management Services Director Mike Chambless, Hollister Fire Chief Bob Martin Del Campo and Interim Police Chief Carlos Reynoso.
During the meeting, Krystal Lomanto, superintendent of the San Benito County Office of Education, said she had just finished a conference call with all school superintendents and the Department of County Health. She said as of 2:15 p.m., a notification that students throughout the county will be dismissed from attending school from March 16 through March 20. Teachers, however, will still be required to come to work. This order will affect approximately 11,200 students.
“We will continue to assess the situation to determine whether an extension of school closures beyond March 20th will be necessary,” she said. “San Benito County Public Health Officer, Dr. Martin Fenstersheib, reported that while the number of cases in our county remains small at this time, the San Benito County Public Health Division expects those numbers to grow significantly in the coming days and weeks which may require a continued response.”
She said, “While we recognize this decision will pose challenges and hardships to many families in our county, the most effective way to slow and disrupt the transmission of this pandemic is by implementing social distancing practices.” Social distancing measures are taken to restrict when and where people can gather to stop or slow the spread of infectious diseases. Social distancing measures include limiting large groups of people coming together, closing buildings and canceling events. Lomanto said,“We understand that implementing these changes with such limited notice is challenging and disruptive, and we appreciate your patience and cooperation. We are grateful to community members throughout our county for their tremendous efforts during these challenging times.”
Immediately after the city council adjourned, the emergency council held its first meeting. Velazquez said he wanted to make sure they made decision that benefited the community.
“The goal is not to keep anything from the public,” he said. There are already a few things going on in our community that I want to make sure we can address today by enacting any orders that we can.”
He said the emergency council will keep the public informed in hopes of reducing panic in the community.
“I would like to put in place an order following state laws restricting price gouging,” he said. “I’ve gotten several reports of prices increasing and we need to find out what we can do about that. We also want to limit the purchase of toilet paper to 24 rolls and water bottles to 24 per visit throughout the city. We will have supplies if everybody does their part. Right now, we have people buying cases of water and toilet paper, which leaves other people without.”
He said local stores will be informed of the limits until the emergency is declared to be over. He also wanted to assure residents that the city water supply is safe.
“Our water system in the City of Hollister is perfectly acceptable to drink,” he said. “There is no need to buy bottled water.”
He said he wanted daily updates from the health department of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the number of tests conducted, and the number of test kits available, as well as the number of beds available at the hospital.
“We want to relay that information to the public, so it understands that the hospital, the health department, the city, county, the school districts are working together to give them information,” he said. He also emphasized the importance of all elected officials using the same source of information in order to prevent rumors.
The emergency council voted in unison on his recommendations. The next meeting was set for March 18 at 3 p.m. and will be open to the public.
San Juan Bautista open for business
In a March 13 press release, the City of San Juan Bautista announced that the state park, mission, and downtown businesses remain open.
“However, the city is following the Governor’s recommendation to postpone or cancel all special events that expect to attract more than 250 people,” the release stated. “The city has decided to extend this policy until the end of May when a reassessment will occur based on current health conditions both locally, and in those surrounding counties where many of the City’s visitors travel from.”
Large special events that are impacted by this decision include the Arts and Crafts Festival, Rib Cook Off and Fiesta Run. Rather than postpone, the organizer of the Arts and Crafts Festival scheduled for March 28-29, has decided to cancel this event. The organizers of the Rib Cook Off and Fiesta Run, originally scheduled to occur in May, are still considering postponing these events, but future dates remain uncertain.