Need a One of a Kind Gift? Try Library Friends Bookstore, By Toni

Need a One of a Kind Gift? Try Library Friends Bookstore

By Toni Campbell

The holidays have arrived at the Capitola Library Friends’ bookstore in the Capitola Mall.

Just before Thanksgiving, a group of volunteers stocked tables and shelves

Michelle Jesberg, the librarian at New Brighton Middle School, is a volunteer at the Capitola Library Friends bookstore in the Capitola Mall.

with hundreds of holiday-related items and festooned the store with decorations celebrating the season. The community is invited to stop by daily to browse holiday and general interest materials.

This well-organized store has become a favorite browsing place for Mall shoppers.

About five years ago when the ‘temporary’ Capitola Library closed for construction, the Capitola Mall donated an empty store to the Capitola Library Friends for used book sales.

In their current 4,000-square-foot location, the Capitola Friends’ volunteers sell used books, CDs, and DVDs that have been donated to them by folks from throughout Santa Cruz County, and sometimes beyond!

Almost all of the approximately 15,000 items are $1 or $2.

The store is packed with materials for all ages ... picture books for the young set; hundreds of chapter books for new readers; young adult books that meet teens’ interests; and, of course, hundreds of novels in both paper and hardback for adults.

In addition to fiction, the store has healthy collections of history, gardening, biography, sports, music, crafts, travel, cookbooks, and many more categories.

The money raised benefits the Capitola Library. n

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For information about scheduling a donation pickup up, contact Karen at karen@ sploids.com.

Store hours are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily (12 – 5 Mondays).

“COVID Update” from page 7

The new bivalent boosters mix vaccine for the original no-longer circulating strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the previously dominant Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, which are far less deadly than the Delta variant.

The bivalent combo was expedited by federal officials who asked drug-makers to test on mice rather than humans. Pfizer submitted data based on 8 mice.

California reports 16% of eligible people had a bivalent booster. In Santa Cruz County, it was 23%.

The federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention plans to provide a recommended vaccine schedule in 2023.

On Oct. 20, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously in favor of adding the Covid vaccine to the federal recommended immunization schedule for children and adults. The existing schedule recommends 27 doses of vaccine between birth and age 6.

Starting at 6 months, children should get the Covid vaccine, plus boosters, the committee said.

The committee heard Dr. Tom Shimabukuro report the death of a boy 13 days after his first dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine. The autopsy showed the cause of death was heart inflammation known as myocarditis; tests found no evidence of viral infection.

The death was reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System, and verified by the CDC. Committee members determined Covid vaccine benefits outweigh the risks.

The CDC said its recommendation is not a mandate, with the decision up to states, counties and municipal officials.

California’s SB 277 requires students be vaccinated to attend public school; no exemptions for personal belief. Homeschoolers are exempt.

The CDC stopped reporting Covid cases on Sept. 21, recognizing 95% of Americans 16 and up have some immunity, either from vaccination or infection.

On Feb. 28, Gov. Newsom plans to lift the state of Covid-19 emergency.

Local information: www.santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus or (831) 454-4242 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. n

••• Active Cases: 644

Age

85 and older: 121 • 75-84: 63 • 65-74: 49 60-64: 15 • 55-59: 4 • 45-54: 10 35-44: 8 • 25-34: 5

Underlying Conditions

Yes: 225 • No: 50

Vaccinated

Yes: 38 • No: 237

Race

White 162 • Latinx 90 • Asian 16 • Black 3 Amer Indian 1 • Hawaiian 1 • Another 2

Gender

Men: 139 • Women: 136

Location

At facility for aged: 118 Not at a facility: 157