Industry News
Lake Tahoe, CA is closing to visitors Thursday night under the regional stay-at-home order that was announced Wednesday, December 9th.
On Wednesday, the Greater Sacramento region fell below 15% ICU capacity, triggering the order. According to the state of California, ICU capacity fell to 14.3% as of Wednesday morning statewide.
Now Lake Tahoe is shunning visitors as a way to curve coronavirus spread.
According to the California covid-19 website, the new restrictions will take effect at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday and the order will remain in place for at least three weeks.
The Greater Sacramento region includes Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties—many of which contain ski areas.
JUST IN: Vacation travel to Lake Tahoe will be banned for at least three weeks starting Friday due to a regional rise in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.https://t.co/s7aCHrJpfR
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) December 9, 2020
How this might affect ski areas in those counties
According to Chris Fiore, the communications manager for the city of South Lake Tahoe who spoke with the Guardian, ski resorts are still permitted to stay open under the order, which exempts outdoor recreation. Fiore says that lodging will be closed except for essential workers and covid-19 containment measures, such as treatment or housing for homeless people.
However, county health officials are urging tourists to stay away from the area for at least three weeks, and this includes ski areas.
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows addressed the stay-at-home order in a social media post today, outlining their response:
On December 10, the California state-mandated “Stay Home” order for the Greater Sacramento region will go into effect, and will last at least three weeks. Squaw Alpine will continue to operate for skiing and snowboarding during this time in accordance with state guidelines. We will adjust our various other businesses accordingly.
The Village at Squaw Valley Lodging will not be accepting reservations for the duration of the “Stay Home” period. Our team is currently contacting all guests who have reservations at The Village at Squaw Valley Lodging within the next three weeks. Food and beverage services will be adjusted across the resort—no indoor seating is available, and all food will be wrapped and packaged to-go. Retail stores will operate at 20% capacity. Lodges will be open with access to restrooms, lockers, rentals and guest services. Masks are required and social distancing will be enforced. We ask that guests limit time spent in lodges.
At this time, there are no changes to existing reservations for lift tickets, ski school, rental/demo, etc.
We are sincerely grateful to all of you for remaining flexible with us throughout this unique season. Please visit our website for more information.
-SVAM, Dec. 10, 2020
This situation is still unfolding and more changes can be expected in the near future if the number of people infected with the coronavirus continues to grow.
View this post on Instagram
The Downhill and Cross Country Ski Areas will remain open however their services are greatly reduced or not available. Important to note and post to help the ski areas financially. Plenty of skiers drive up to Tahoe for the day.
The stay at home orders is the reason prices of houses in the Tahoe Basin have exploded. If you own, you have a place to stay and enjoy Tahoe. However a recent local real estate company posted that the average house in Truckee is getting close to a million dollars now and the biggest problem is lack of affordable housing for employees, which is now coming to an added crisis situation. How do you keep businesses open without employees? At some point the minimum wage is probably going to have to increase.
If you’re old, sick or scared stay home. If you’re young healthy and willing to do die you should be able to go about your business as usual. 10 Years we will look back on COVID with all the data and realize it was a massive overreaction.
Go down town Truckee and see how many people are following the stay at home order ! The citizens of California have zero interest in following the covid protocols and seem to have no interest in preventing the spread of the corona virus.
How many people have to die for people to take this thing seriously ?
We understand why snowbrains is posting this but keep in mind the small businesses that survive on regional tourism. And keep in mind the implications when posting “tahoe is closed”. Unless our government decides to pay businesses to stay closed and people to stay home, this only hurts (almost) everyone here in the long term.
ALL business’ thatvshoot themselves in the foot deserve what they get. The vaccine is not availabke yet nor do we know side effects….yet Qantas air and NY city are demanding proof of vaccine. How do you require something that is not available? Why would a For Profit entity reduce sales by projecting future restraints? Dumbest moves ever! The depression coming is deserved because citizens allowed government to collapse this economy.