CITY MEETINGS TO CONTINUE ONLINE AND IN PERSON

End Of Covid Emergency Brings Possible Changes To Government Protocol

By Christian Kallen

On Feb. 28, less than a week from the Tribune publication date, the local public health emergency that has been in place since March 2, 2020 to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic will be lifted, as Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase announced last week.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has said the state public health emergency will expire that same day, next Wednesday. And while the federal COVID-19 public health emergency is slated to expire on May 11, at least at the local level it seems the pandemic is for all practical purposes over.

The expiration of emergency health rules surrounding the pandemic means that a number of adjustments that were made to conducting official business during the pandemic will no longer be necessary. City Manager Jeff Kay doesn’t see that many changes will result from the expiration of the health orders that haven’t already been implemented.

“We will probably see less remote participation in City Council and commission meetings, but City operations have been close to normal for many months now,” Kay said. “So things should be mostly business as usual once the emergency declaration lapses next week.”

The one item of significance was the potential reversion to pre-COVID policies about public alcohol consumption, which led the Parks and Recreation Commission to recommend new, more lenient rules for downtown city parks. That recommendation made it

➝ City Meetings, 5