Covid state of emergency to end February

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - California's Covid state of emergency will officially end in February.

It’s been more than two and a half years since governor Gavin Newsom first declared a state of emergency due to the Covid pandemic.

Since the declaration on March 4, 2020, Newsom issued 596 orders covering everything from tax deadlines to stay-at-home orders designed to keep the public safe.

Nancy Rodriguez from Santa Barbara says these orders caused her family to leave California for half a year. 

After her husband lost his job, it became difficult to find safe and reliable childcare. 

“I decided to be a stay at home mom and since then we’ve just been accumulating lots of debt,” said Rodriguez. 

Some locals say the stay at home orders didn’t just affect their finances— it also affected them psychologically.

“It affected my kids. They became more nervous to see people or strangers,” said Rodriguez. 

“Going on campus the first year it was barren, like a ghost town,” said Santa Barbara Community College student Marshall Logan. 

This week Newsom’s office announced the state of emergency will end in February.

This is a relief to many people who say life is finally starting to go back to a new normal.

“We hope that we don’t have to go through this again,” said Rodriguez. 

Until the order ends California’s health care system still has more flexibility to prepare for a potential winter surge in cases and hospitalizations.

But Newsom says the state has enough resources to manage the pandemic next year without the need for a formal emergency declaration.