MIDWEEK EDITION
TUESDAY, March 31, 2020
S E R V I N G O U R C O M M U N I T Y S I N C E 18 7 9 • W W W. T R I P L I C AT E . C O M
County closes hotels, rentals due to COVID-19 Sutter Coast Hospital readies for possible local surge of coronavirus David Hayes Staff Writer
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el Norte County’s public health officer issued an order Friday limiting the use of hotels and vacation rentals to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus from potentially overburdening the local healthcare system. The order went into effect Friday evening, March 27. Dr. Warren Rehwaldt said during a news conference on Friday the order resembles actions taken by Brookings, Ore., and other coastal communities. The
conference was also attended by Sutter Coast Hospital CEO Mitch Hanna and co-hosted by Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore and Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Hemmingsen. Rehwaldt said local emergency personnel and public health officials felt it was important to move quickly on the restriction of hotels and vacation rentals. “The order discourages unnecessary travel. There’s a high demand of travelers coming from out of the area and out of state. People may be trying to flee their own areas af-
fected by COVID-19 but at the same time they might be bringing it with them,” Rehwaldt said. The closure includes the following areas: • County parks are closed to camping except for hosts or other people expressly authorized by the county for stays of 30 days or longer. • Short-term rentals, including vacation rentals Sutter Coast Hospital. or homestay lodging, are prohibited in Del Norte County until the emergency grounds are prohibited from housing anyone for ends. less than a 30-day period. • Hotels, motels, RV Some exceptions include a parks and private campcounty resident allowing a
family member or roommate to self-quarantine in their home. • Pools, spas and other public bathing facilities
are closed. Hanna then outlined the More County on Page A5
Superintendent keeps schools closed for now, plans for graduation David Hayes Staff Writer
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Twelve people were displaced by a fire at Surf Apartments Thursday, March 26, the Crescent City Fire Department reported. Courtesy photo.
Fire displaces 12 residents of Surf Apartments Staff Report
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welve people were displaced by a fire at Surf Apartments Thursday, March 26, the Crescent City Fire Department reported. The fire broke out at 12:47 p.m. Thursday in a fourthfloor apartment at the Surf Apartments, 108 H St., Crescent City. Originally dispatched as a fire alarm sounding at the location, the response was quickly upgraded to a structure fire when dispatch advised there was smoke in an apartment on the fourth floor, and occupants were beginning to evacuate. Upon arrival, light smoke was seen coming from an apartment on the front street side of the building and the fire alarm system was sounding. There were some occupants already on the street in front of the building. Firefighters entered the building for fire attack and search and encountered several residents in the hallways and still inside their rooms. The ladder truck was positioned with the ladder to the apartment that had smoke coming from it. The fire attack crew found the
apartment full of smoke but the fire had been extinguished by one sprinkler head that activated in the bedroom. The fire had burned a laundry basket of clothing and began to burn the mattress next to it. Search efforts continued as additional occupants were removed or sheltered in place on lower floors away from the fire. The sprinkler system was shut down, smoke was removed from the building, and crews worked to protect property from water damage. The building electrical was also shutoff. Unfortunately, 12 occupants were displaced by the fire and subsequent water damage to apartments next to and below where the fire was found. Del Norte County Office of Emergency Services assisted with Red Cross to temporarily house the 12 displaced occupants. Property management on the scene was coordinating with an electrician to restore power to the undamaged apartments. Cleaning resources were also being brought in for water removal.
fter re-evaluating the continued potential spread of the novel coronavirus, Del Norte Unified School District officials decided schools will continue to remain closed. While Superintendent Jeff Harris recommended the school board revisit the situation at its April 9 meeting, he told the trustees graduation plans are still in the works. “At the all-principal meeting, a couple of things I’ve been telling everyone is to plan everything after April 20 as if we’re moving forward,” Harris said. “I don’t want to not plan for it and not have it because we didn’t plan for it. I want to plan as if we’re going to do it if we’re able to. I don’t want to miss an opportunity for lack of planning.” In the meantime, Harris said they are looking at canceling a physical ceremony and looking at virtual graduation options or a blended in-person and virtual graduation. Student board member representative Elizabeth Ward asked how the grading period that ends May 1 would be handled during the closure. Harris said after conversations with other county superintendents and State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond, the bottom line is the state hasn’t determined how grading would be handled for the interrupted semester. “The Legislature hasn’t decided what it wants to do yet. But what we’re thinking of, for instance, if you were enrolled in civics class, then just being enrolled in civics class when we went out on March 13 would act for the state as if you have completed civics class,” he said. Harris added that because things are changing rapidly, he didn’t know what would happen but promised to keep high school seniors in the loop. Harris explained it wouldn’t be prudent to reopen schools now as the state expects a surge in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in April and May. He added school districts in the Bay Area and Southern California, areas hardest hit by the coronavirus, have committed to remaining closed through the first full week of May. Starting this week, Harris said there is a “soft closure” of the district administration office, located at 301 W. Washington Blvd. The doors will be closed to the general public Mondays and Fridays and open the rest of the week from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To limit traffic to the building, there will be a table in the main office where parents can still pick up such things as applications for childcare, work and school registration packets. Harris said this follows the lead of the city and county offices which have closed More on Schools A5
Recording the Beatles with a little help from their friends David Hayes Staff Writer
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here’s only so much to do when stuck in the confines of a home when practicing safe social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the Fletcher family, they took their burgeoning band, Weekend Sons, and reached out to friends and neighbors throughout Crescent City to contribute to their first online release, a cover of the Beatle’s “All You Need is Love.”
“It’s really tough being stuck at home. So, we asked the community to help us with this song, because we’re all in this together,” Sage Fletcher, 14, says, kicking off the video, which was released to their Facebook page March 24. “It was my idea that our band name reflected it was a family band. And my sons said not to make it too obvious. So, Weekend Sons implies we play on the weekend and sounded like an actual band name,” James Fletcher said. With Sage on bass guitar, brother,
Josh, 10, on the drums and tambourine and dad, James, on lead guitar, the video starts in their living room transformed into a recording studio. The video then cuts to all the contributors singing and playing along. The video hasn’t necessarily gone viral, but Fletcher said he was surprised by how many people passed it on, as it nears 5,000 views and sits at 105 shares. Fletcher, a local realtor with a More Beatles on Page A4
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