R.honda Keen understands why Lake Tahoe attracts so many people. The lake itself – miles of beach beside cobalt blue water – skis and snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada, and the charms of the mountain villages.
December is usually one of the busiest months for tourists, but this winter California’s new lock order was supposed to stop it all. Local authorities asked visitors to respect the precautionary measures, which urged people to stay at home and avoid unnecessary travel.
But to the surprise of Keen and other residents, the tourists have continued to arrive. They record holiday rentals, pour into local grocery stores and hit the slopes.
Who are these people? Why aren’t they at home? “Keen was surprised recently when she sat in traffic on the way into South Lake Tahoe, a town at the bottom of the lake.
An order to stay at home in California came during the dark state of the pandemic, with cases looming nearby and hospitals being loaded down. El Dorado County, where part of Lake Tahoe is located, reports hundreds of new cases each week.
But lax rape and Tahoe’s special place have made complex efforts to keep visitors away. The lake spans both California and Nevada; And the Nevada side is open to tourists and there are far fewer restrictions. Holiday homes and Airbnbs across the region continue to entertain guests, while ski resorts, free of close by California order, are still in operation.
The fact has left the region that relies on tourism connected between “Covid and a hard place,” said Scott Robbins, a former town council candidate and remote worker. Businesses are struggling, and they need the amount of tourism they can get to stay away. But many are also questioning how to keep themselves safe and prevent a revolution that could overwhelm local hospitals. The stay-at-home order is expected to expire soon, and residents are at a loss as to how to protect the community.
“It almost doesn’t matter what we do,” Keen said. “So many of us come from outside … we need those tourists so we can all get jobs and pay rent but with the tourists the danger comes. You can only try to discount. “
Lake Tahoe has long been a destination in the Golden State, with an economy largely based on tourism. Under the first lockout in the spring, with ski resorts closed and Nevada under similar restrictions, the area was a ghost town, said Chris Fiore, South Lake Tahoe’s communications manager. But after months of locking up, holiday visitors flooded the area over the summer, creating traffic, litter problems and large crowds that some residents described as like the fourth of July throughout the season.
“The summer season was like the spring break on the beaches. We went to the beach once and had to hide in masks on the line, ”said Chelsea Altman, who moved to her family home in the area in March. “People don’t care.” Altman was forced to leave her home in Los Angeles and since arriving in Tahoe has almost avoided public places because she has a immune system disorder that makes her more susceptible to disease.
While this month has been as busy as the summer, new families are moving into weekly vacation rentals, grocery stores are more plentiful than usual, and implementation is not. the order at all there, residents report. South Lake Tahoe is filing complaints, Fiore said, but it does not have the ability to knock on every door in the city.
“We’ve seen people come into the city who don’t seem to live here. We can’t gate over the Echo Summit and check IDs as people come in, ”said Fiore. “If people are going to come, the best thing we can do is educate them on how to keep people safe.”
The El Dorado County sheriff’s office has said it would focus on education rather than enforcing the stay-at-home order. Heavenly Village, a shopping and entertainment center, has encouraged people to come to the area for the holidays and said: “There are currently no fines, taxes or enforcement assessments for travel to South Lake Tahoe or properties. Nevada. “
That’s sad for residents like Keen, a real estate agent whose husband is a first responder and recently owned a Covid-19.
“I know [tourism] a big part of this city life. It’s a big part of my business personally but at the same time I don’t want to get sick. I don’t want my friends and family to get sick, ”she said.
Robbins, the former town council candidate, was one of the first registered Covid-19 cases in the region and is still suffering from long-term symptoms. He says he is also frustrated by the lack of enforcement and meaningful support for local businesses.
“When they were first excluded the incentive and unemployment studies made it possible for them to be out of work without putting food on the table. We have to be in a closed position but help is not coming, ”he said.
Despite the continued tourism, local businesses say they are struggling and seeing far fewer customers than they normally would.
“Now that we’re not doing outdoor seating, it makes it rough,” said Kyle McQueen, general manager at Sonney’s BBQ Shack Bar & Grill, located in the Y neighborhood. of South Lake Tahoe, about two miles from the water. “I laid off maybe 85% of my staff. We can hardly keep our doors open. “
“Where we are at a tourist destination. They are the ones who do our business, ”he said. “Keeping them up here may hurt us more than help us.”
Aaron Abrams, owner of The Free Bird, a cafe that serves homemade cai and organic smoothies, has almost laid off its staff, and with waiters and bartenders across the city out of work, local business is down too.
“I’m concerned about human health and public safety,” said Abrams, “but in terms of business it’s just hard to keep going. “It takes a toll.”
The city of South Lake Tahoe is trying to support businesses, Fiore said, and recently agreed to an outbound reimbursement program, setting aside $ 100,000 for restaurants to buy dishes and other things to make food. However, Fiore added, the stay – at – home order is an important part of reopening Tahoe.
“The more we follow these orders the sooner we get back to South Lake Tahoe that we know and love.”
Robbins sees continued tourism and struggling businesses as a failure of local and national failure.
“Our small town can’t print money,” Robbins said, “without the help of the federal government, a real and meaningful help, people will continue to need to serve the tourism industry. We will see more illness, the hospital but more crowded and service staff will only receive more injuries. ”