Napa County awaits ‘orange’ light for more reopening from coronavirus restrictions
When California on Aug. 31 commenced its four-tiered, color-coded rating system to give the state — not its individual 58 counties — control over monitoring the spread of COVID-19, four of the North Bay’s six counties were classified as purple, the level with the highest restrictions.
Napa County was deemed to have sustained transmission, putting it into the red tier, which puts fewer constraints on businesses than the purple tier. The county opened a variety of indoor businesses, albeit with limited capacity, including restaurants, hotels, museums, gyms, and personal care services, such as nail salons and message shops.
Now the county is on the cusp of moving into the orange tier, or moderate transmission, according to Napa County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Relucio.
“We’re close. We have to have a daily case rate of less than 4 for two weeks consecutively to move us into the orange tier,” Relucio said, noting that as of Sept. 21, the county’s daily case rate was 4.3. “We had a few days where we had less than 10 cases a day, but we’ve had other days where we’ve had more than 10 cases a day, so I think it’s a matter of keeping an eye on that and not becoming complacent.”
Even so, the orange tier can’t erase the pain so many of the county’s businesses have experienced over the past six months. Since mid-March, when shelter-in-place orders took effect, there have been numerous furloughs, layoffs and permanent closures, mostly among the sector the county’s economy relies on most: the leisure and hospitality industry.
To date, 241 employees among Napa businesses have been terminated, according to the state Employment Development Department, which requires businesses to file notices of job displacements through the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The breakdown of permanent job cuts among employers is as follows: The Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa cut 99 jobs. Wyndham Vacation Ownership — Vino Bello Napa Resort eliminated two jobs; as did Oakville/Cardinale Winery. Adventist Health St. Helena reduced its workforce by five people. CMC Rebar West, a steel fabricator, cut 25 jobs. Hi-Way Safety, Inc., a manufacturer and wholesale seller of traffic control devices and sign, will permanently close on Oct. 11, resulting in the loss of eight jobs.
“I know there’s some small businesses that couldn’t weather the storm. It’s been hard to keep their doors open, with many having to pivot to other things,” Travis Stanley, CEO of the Napa Chamber of Commerce, told the Business Journal last month. “In a sense, it’s inevitable what’s happened, but most are preventing it the best way they can.”
Craig Smith, executive director, Downtown Napa Association, said a toy store and a yarn shop went out of business early on in the pandemic, but not because of COVID-19. Both were having serious difficulties before, he said.
“Folks generally think that we are trending toward being able to open tasting rooms and restaurants at 50% fairly soon,” Smith said. “Without that, it’s going to be a tough winter, and I think you’d see any closures after Christmas (or) early spring.”
The Yountville business community has been resilient and innovative during COVID-19, according to Whitney Diver McEvoy, president and CEO of the Yountville Chamber of Commerce & Welcome Center. A few retail businesses left the V Marketplace and relocated elsewhere, but not because of COVID-19, she said.
In April, the Yountville Town Council created the Transitional Support Program for businesses, allowing retailers, restaurants, tasting rooms and other businesses to move or expand operations outdoors, said Diver McEvoy, noting that, to date, 35 businesses have utilized the program.
“Prior to the August fires, business overall was doing quite well, or as best as possible given COVID-19 restrictions,” she said.
