Seaside aims for better education after COVID-19 case spike
SEASIDE, Calif. (KION) The City of Seaside's mayor is aiming to better educate residents about COVID-19 safety protocols after the city saw a spike in cases in recent days.
According to Monterey County's COVID-19 case numbers webpage, the zip code 93955, which encompasses Seaside, accounted for 103 cases in the Monterey Peninsula/Big Sur region.
It's a number the mayor hopes to tackle through better community awareness, but not through police enforcement.
Restaurants in Seaside, like the rest of Monterey County, are closing down again for in-person dining after the region exceeded state thresholds in the last few weeks.
For the city in particular, the spike in cases is especially alarming.
"Community Hospital has been prepared to receive increased numbers of COVID-19 patients. Unfortunately, that has been necessary over the last say three to four weeks," said Dr. Martha Blum, a Montage Medical Group infectious diseases expert.
Monterey Peninsula hospitals have seen an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations. The Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, or CHOMP, is currently treating up to 10 patients.
About a third of the patients they are seeing are Seaside residents, with others coming from Marina and other parts of the peninsula. CHOMP says the spikes seem to be due in large part to extended families gathering and transmitting the virus within households.
"And when these family members interact, they're spreading it through just direct contact from birthday parties, from weddings, from large family gatherings, and then they go back to their individual households where then more people get infected," said Dr. Blum.
The City of Seaside says they are waiting for further contact tracing by the county health officer to figure out exactly how to proceed in tackling the spikes. The county is checking in with businesses to ensure COVID-19 guideline compliance.
As for the city's part, the mayor says compliance through education will take the forefront in the community.
"We will go in there with information.. is the key. And we will give them the information that they need to protect themselves," said Mayor Ian Oglesby, of the City of Seaside. "We don't want to go through law enforcement compliance particularly at this time."
For a city filled with multi-family housing and differing socio-economic conditions, the challenges of containing a fast-spreading virus can be even harder.
"I think now more than ever, it's really important for people to remember just those basic precautions," said Dr. Blum.
The Seaside mayor says the city has handed out thousands of cloth masks already to the community. They are planning to do so again at an upcoming food bank event later this month.
