I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m on the longest, roller coaster riding the ups and downs of the pandemic as restrictions are imposed, lifted, reimposed, lifted and now reimposed again. And, I’m not having fun.
Once again, a state-mandated shutdown is in place on the California side of the Tahoe Sierra, which covers the majority of our region. The only difference this time is that I knew it was coming and had a few days’ notice to prepare, whereas in March we were all blind-sided. Having to reassess your business position, sales projections and our publication on the fly has left us all spinning.
Luckily, the little bit of notice let us shift this edition from a normal 2-week edition to a one-month edition, which will now be out until Jan. 13. It also gave me a chance to switch out some of our content before we went to press to ensure that everything was still allowed under the new guidelines. I also quickly penned a new piece for this edition on “Winter activities that are safe and open” to share with our readers. One of the upsides of writing about what to do in Tahoe for more than 20 years is that I can make these changes quickly.
However, this change means we cancelled our Dec. 30 edition in order to assess how this shutdown will impact our economy, our community and our businesses. The complete order is available at covid19.ca.gov, which remains in effect until the end of December. Here’s a quick look at what this means in California:
- Non-essential travel is not allowed across the state of California.
- Hotels & lodging are closed. This includes short-term rentals.
- Gatherings of any size are prohibited.
- Bars, wineries, personal services & hair salons must close.
- Retail can stay open with a cap of 20% capacity.
- Restaurants must stop all on-site dining & only provide take-out or delivery.
- Ski resorts & outdoor activity providers can remain open.
- Local recreation with members of the same household is encouraged.
- The travel advisory to quarantine after any out-of-state travel is still in place.
- Masking & physical distancing are mandatory.
Restrictions are different in Nevada with reduced capacities for most businesses including for lodging and at casinos and restaurants. Visit nvhealthresponse.nv.gov for details.
Once the shutdown order is either lifted or extended beyond the three-week timeline after the New Year, we’ll be assessing our January print schedule to see if we need to make changes regarding our Jan. 13 edition.
What won’t change is that we’re still working on our 14th Annual Nordic Ski & Snowshoe Guide and we’ll continue to make our content, including local happenings and hundreds of trails and outings to enjoy safely, available for free at TheTahoeWeekly.com, @TheTahoeWeekly on Facebook and Instagram, and through our e-newsletter.
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