By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – January 14, 2021

The following article is the fourth part of a four part series on businesses
in Del Norte County in 2020.  Fortunately not all businesses in the
County are reporting a complete collapse due to Covid-19 restrictions. 
One such business is reporting that it is holding it own.  While it is
not considered an essential business by the County, it was allowed an
exemption provided it conduced business under more stringent
regulations.  Due to this business owner’s diligence no reports of
Covid-19 surfaced after reopening in the latter half of June from its
business activities.

This tourist related business was closed initially for nearly three
months, then with the easing of restrictions in June was allowed to
reopen until a brief closure in November.   Due to the continuation of
on line learning by public schools in California coupled with Del Norte
County’s wonderful weather in the early fall, many families elected to
travel in September, October, and most of November.  This extended
season allowed this business to recoup the loss incurred in the Spring
closures.   While other businesses were not as fortunate, we should be
grateful that some of our tourist economy was not completely lost, and a
few tourist dollars were injected back into the larger economy.

As you can see by this series on local businesses the lock downs
affected many businesses in a multitude of ways.  While some will
continue to thrive, others will be less fortunate.  I suspect this past
year has dramatically affected many of our friends and neighbors.  One
can only hope that enough of the Del Norte spirit will remain alive to
face the coming year.  We have been blessed by very few casualties
caused by Covid-19 as well as very few instances from positive testing
that required anything more that simple quarantining.  I think we all
hope that this trend will continue until Sacramento allows us to get
back to work.