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FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2020
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Volume 169 • Issue 74
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Nomadic Shelter for homeless might not happen Pat Lakey Staff writer As El Dorado County and homeless advocates work toward creating a permanent shelter for the homeless on the county’s western slope, a Placerville couple that for years has helped facilitate the Nomadic Shelter that involves churches opening their doors during winter’s worst months are worried this season there will be no room at the inn. Don and Peg Vanderkar attended a meeting this week where efforts for a long-range shelter were discussed by county and other representatives — but following the gathering, Peg Vanderkar said she and her husband
“... anything happening this winter for night shelter is on us, the non-governmental community. It’s on us, the nonprofit community. And only on us.” — Peg Vanderkar, Hangtown Haven Inc. were discouraged about any help forthcoming that would keep the Nomadic Shelter system going. “We were not clear until yesterday (at the meeting) that anything happening this winter for night shelter is on us, the non-governmental community,” said Peg. “It’s on us, the nonprofit community. And only on us.” Peg said she and Don, who for decades have advocated for helping the local homeless population, applaud the fact that the effort for a permanent
shelter appears to be solidly under way. “The county and other entities are working on a big, long-term project of some kind to address homelessness issues,” she said. “For this, we cheer mightily — there are so many issues, intricate complexities differing in each homeless person.” Still, she added, it remains that the most immediate and pressing issues of food and shelter are not adequately addressed currently. Although a few local homeless have been quartered
in a Pollock Pines motel due to the coronavirus pandemic, they will be back on the streets once conditions are declared safe and the governor lifts that order. For the past seven years local churches have signed on to be part of a network where each church takes in the homeless overnight, meaning it would take seven churches to cover the week. The Nomadic Shelter, as it became known, ran from November through March, five months of respite during which homeless people could find a place to sleep at night — at least on those nights when churches were available. The entire week was not n
See nomadic shelter, page A10
Masks work, says county public health officer Dylan Svoboda Staff writer
Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
Placerville Brewing Company’s parking lot is deserted Wednesday since the popular watering hole has closed amid financial difficulties exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
3 restaurants close Economic impact COVID-19 shutters eateries
Dylan Svoboda Staff writer The coronavirus outbreak-caused economic crisis is making its mark on El Dorado County restaurants. Two Placerville restaurants are closing their doors due to pandemicrelated issues. Let’s Poké in downtown Placerville and Placerville Brewing Company on Placerville Drive announced over the weekend that their final days had passed. In both restaurants’ cases, the
economic recession triggered by the coronavirus shutdown coupled with limited operating capabilities in recent months forced operators to shutter their storefronts for good. “… It is with a heavy heart (that) I announce that Let’s Poke has closed its doors due to COVID-19 related financial issues,” states a company Facebook post. “We want to thank everyone who supported us through the years and wish you the best in life. We have had a great run and feel we did everything we could to save Let’s
Poke.” Let’s Poke spokespeople indicated they “still hope to pop up in a new location in the future,” the statement reads. The restaurant opened in February 2018 at 3182 Center St. in a space formerly occupied by Z Pie. In addition to the coronavirus shutdown, Placerville Brewing Company blamed PG&E public safety power shutoffs, which forced the restaurant to shut down over several days in 2019. The brewery n
Face coverings are now mandated across California. El Dorado County’s top doctor says it’ll be a blessing, despite pushback from the public. While she declined to implement a face-covering policy at the county level, county Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams said she’s been in favor of broad mask-wearing for several weeks now. “I chose not to make it a requirement in our county because our case rates were so low that I thought the added benefit of their use was not worth the backlash that issuing an order would’ve caused,” Williams said during an El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. After initial questions over the scientific basis of requiring face coverings, Williams said the science is now clear — face coverings work in slowing the spread of COVID-19. With El Dorado County entering Stage 3 of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening plan, it’s more important than ever to wear a mask in public and when social distancing isn’t possible, she said. “With the case rates rising here and statewide, and people moving about more and people taking more risks like gathering without physical distancing, the requirement now makes sense, including for our county,” she said. “In my view, it’s a small price to pay for the continued freedom of being able to patronize the businesses that have been
See restaurants close, page A9
n
See Masks, page A2
State-run COVID-19 testing site shut down Dylan Svoboda Staff writer State and El Dorado County public health officials shut down an underused COVID-19 testing site on the West Slope this week. The free, appointment-only testing center at Ponderosa High School is no more as the state moves to shift testing capacities to underserved areas of California. The site’s last day in operation was Monday. The facility could process 132
tests a day, yet just a few dozen people were coming in each day to get tested, according to El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams. “Because the number of people going to the site was pretty low, the cost pertest that the state was incurring was pretty exorbitant,” she said. “I think all of us were in agreement that it didn’t make sense for the state to continue to spend that level of money for that site.” The county Public Health Department is looking at bringing in a mobile test site to the West Slope,
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possibly one day a week, to make up for the loss of the Ponderosa testing site, added Williams. Free, appointment-only COVID-19 testing is still available in the Tahoe Basin at Lake Tahoe Community College. The Tahoe location is open Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m.-noon and 1-7 p.m. Coronavirus testing is also available at Marshall Medical Center, Barton Memorial Hospital and El Dorado Community Health Centers. The two free testing sites opened
in May after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state was adding more than 80 community COVID-19 testing sites in California focused on underserved communities. Resources from the Ponderosa site will move to areas in need of more testing capabilities, Williams said. About 10,545 El Dorado County residents were tested for the coronavirus as of Wednesday morning. There have been 150 confirmed coronavirus cases since the first case was reported March 20.
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