Santa Cruz County Dropped From State COVID-19 Watch List

Santa Cruz County was removed from the state's COVID-19 watch list after the list was unfrozen for the first time in several weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.

Santa Cruz County was added to the watch list late last month after it was flagged for factors like rising cases and hospitalization rates. Counties on the list are prohibited from opening certain higher-risk businesses, like salons and gyms.

It was removed from the list retroactive to Friday, Newsom said.

"We've said this in the past, you've seen this in the past, this is a dynamic list," Newsom said.

Santa Cruz County is the first to come off the list since state officials froze additions and removals due to a technical glitch with the state coronavirus tracking system, the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange, which had a backlog of nearly 300,000 test samples.

The state has caught up with the backlog, confirming nearly 15,000 coronavirus cases that had been unaccounted for since mid-July.

In addition to Santa Cruz County's removal, Amador, Mendocino, Inyo, Calaveras and Sierra counties were added to the list.

Santa Cruz County is now the only part of the greater Bay Area and Monterey Peninsula to fall off the list, which now includes 42 counties.

"The community should continue taking steps to protect themselves and their community from COVID-19, including avoiding indoor gatherings with those outside your household, maintaining physical distancing, wearing a mask, washing your hands and sneezing/coughing into your elbow," Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency spokeswoman Corinne Hyland said in a statement.

Newsom said the state's coronavirus cases and hospitalization data are not where public health officials want them, but they are trending in the right direction.

— Bay City News