Comstock’s founder and publisher reflects on the coronavirus pandemic and the people who are working to lessen the blow in the Capital Region. 

Comstock’s has been following four businesses that have been helping to drive the resurgence of Sacramento’s central city in recent years. Here’s how they’re faring a month into the shutdown.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Precision Medical Products primarily focused on products for post-surgical patients. But with PPE in short supply nationwide, the company swiftly allocated all its resources toward the production and distribution of N95 and KN95 respirators.

Thanks to a temporary relaxation of Alcoholic Beverage Control laws, most California breweries have pivoted to curbside and delivery business. But how much longer local breweries will survive — and what the long-term effects of the pandemic on the Sacramento-area beer scene will be — remain unknown.

California doctors are diagnosing anything from appendicitis to strep throat with only a phone during the coronavirus pandemic. Video visits and conversations are the closest doctors can get to patients who are sheltering in place and avoiding potential exposure from doctor visits.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing intense lobbying from both business and labor as he weighs an executive order that would make it easier for essential workers such as nurses and grocery clerks to get workers’ compensation if they contract COVID-19.

People are paying close attention to social media and mainstream media, because of interest in the pandemic and because so many are at home. That is why it is vital to immediately assess the threat and pursue means to counter it by confirming facts and sharing your story. 

The mayors of Fairfield and Vacaville and the Solano Transportation Authority are seeking $123 million in funding from the California Transportation Commission toward a project to widen 10 miles of Interstate 80. But with commute times down due to the coronavirus, it might be a tougher sell.

Until recently, Giggle & Riot was providing photo booths for up to 400 events a year. When events were canceled under California’s shelter-in-place order, owners Caroline Winata and Josh Daniels responded with new services. 

In this time of enforced boredom laced with extraordinary stress, many people in the Capital Region are turning to cannabis for relief from both.