Santa Cruz County slowly reopens businesses while neighboring Santa Clara County holds back

SANTA CRUZ, Calif (KTVU) - The Phase 2 business reopening is pitting some California counties against each other, as each tries to revive its economy.
 
On the Friday before Mother’s Day, there was a bustling pace of business for the owners of Santa Cruz Floral.
 
“We’ve had to cut off our orders because we are sold out for the weekend. We wish we could help more people, but we can only do what we can physically do,” said Nita Robertson, one of the store’s co-owners.
 
She said only her family staffs the floral shop, which has reopened for curbside pick-up. Santa Cruz County is one of four conducting a Phase 2 reopening from the coronavirus shutdown. The businesses allowed open with restrictions include book and clothing stores, sporting goods outlets, and florists.

 “Everything is good from the condition standpoint on the ground, to give this a try,” said Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin.
 
Santa Cruz County officials said they haven’t had a COVID19-related death in a few weeks and the hospitalization count from the virus is low. So they’re following through on Phase 2. The same is not true of its northern neighbor, Santa Clara County.
 
“We were so upset because we had just finished all our signs,” said Kristen Dryden, the owner of Automobuild, a toy store in Los Gatos.
 
The economic pain continues for business owners as this county is not following along with the state’s Phase 2 reopening. Some experts warn the dichotomy is creating an economic disadvantage for the Bay Area’s largest county, Santa Clara.
 
“We really do want to continue to control this virus. But the question is, is it really necessary to have as many people out of work and as many different activities prohibited?,” said San Jose State University strategic management professor Dr. Robert Chapman Wood.
 
At the flower shop in Santa Cruz, the Robertson’s have safety protocols in place to prevent COVID-19 infections. This, as they field orders locally, and from other counties still shutdown.
 
“We’re currently receiving 10 to 20 calls from Santa Clara County, all the way to San Francisco County, residents calling to try and send flowers,” said Bruce Robertson, the other co-owner of Santa Cruz Floral.
 
It is another ill effect of the global pandemic, which sees some areas struggling to bloom economically, while others are still fully effected by the COVID-19 virus.