California

Gavin Newsom Wineries Open Despite COVID 19 Spike

Jul 7, 2020

NAPPA COUNTY—July 7, California Governor, Gavin Newsom is part-owner of a hospitality management company, PlumpJack Group and despite a spike in COVID 19 cases in California, properties of the group are open for business.

With state mandated rules that have were updated by Newsom July 1, wineries are among several types of businesses that were ordered to shut down indoor operations. With an “alarming” increase in COVID 19 cases after 4^th of July weekend, Newsom has made it clear that to stop the spread of the virus, we must avoid gatherings, leaving our residences when it’s not necessary, wear face coverings, and maintain social distancing.

Wineries, restaurants, movie theaters, zoos, museums and card-rooms have all been ordered to close indoor operations and bars have been ordered to close all operations.

According to the PlumpJack website, the wineries are among several properties operated by the PlumpJack Group and confirms function of the business is still going on being that Nappa was not included as a state monitored county. Rules are listed on the website such as employees required to wear a mask when interacting with the public and employees and all staff are monitored for illness and will have temperature checks before their shifts.

The boutique hotel, The PlumJack Squaw Valley Inn is also open to the public with COVID 19 precautionary measures established.

On June 19 a promotion video was posted to the PlumpJack Instagram page. The video showed visitors with masks on until they sat down with text that read, “Face coverings required,” “social distancing respected” and “Groups of 6 or less.”

The PlumpJack group includes a boutique hotel, four wineries, five restaurants and bars, three retail stores and seven event spaces. San Francisco bars are open and are asking for donations for workers who are “relying on minimal payments from unemployment” and “going through a real hardship right now.”

July 6 Newsom confirmed an updated monitored list including 23 counties in California:

Colusa, Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura.