'Uncertain, disbelieving:' COVID-19 shut down Ventura County four years ago today

It felt like a gut punch.

Four years ago Wednesday, Camarillo hairstylist Enrique Ramirez and 800,000 other people across Ventura County were ordered to stay at home indefinitely because of the rising threat of COVID-19. If they ventured out for a walk or groceries, they were told to stay 6 feet away anyone else.

In a county public health order aimed at slowing the rise of the newly emerged coronavirus, nearly all travel was banned. So were gatherings of more than 10 people. Ramirez, who has owned Salon Passion for 30 years, and thousands of other business owners were instructed to close immediately.

A day earlier, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued similar edicts across California. Ramirez remembers it all as a collision between shock and reality.

“We just started scrambling to figure out what we need to do next,” he said. “It was one of those uncertain, disbelieving, one of those gut-punch moments... It's like, '(Shoot,) this is real.’”

The virus changed everything. It shut down schools, brought surges that filled hospitals and triggered a roller coaster ride of business openings and closures. It pushed an estimated 120,000 Ventura County residents to file for unemployment benefits.

County records show 3.7 million COVID tests have been performed with 228,689 coming up positive though the tallies don't include home tests.

The virus contributed to 1,767 deaths as of Friday, including two new fatalities reported by the county public health department.

“It was lethal. It was out of proportion to anything we had seen in our lifetimes,” said Dr. Robert Levin, the county health officer who issued the Stay Well at Home order that marked the pandemic's emergence and now serves as a grim anniversary.

Restrictions were changed and lifted. The county's public health emergency ended a little more than a year ago. People mostly talk about COVID in the past tense. But it is still here. As of the most recent tally, 12 people with the virus were being treated in emergency rooms across the county. Three people needed intensive care treatment.

Federal research shows about 6% of adults in U.S. have struggled with long COVID, meaning many in Ventura County may fight respiratory issues, chronic fatigue and brain fog. Doctors still worry about the long-term impacts of COVID on the heart, lungs and brain.

People who are 65 and older should get another updated COVID-19 vaccination if it has been four months from their last shot, state public health officials said earlier this month.

Dr. Raj Bhatia, a pulmonologist and intensive care doctor in Oxnard, tells his high risk patients to wear masks in public. But he also noted that the virus has loosened its grip on most people.

“At this point, it’s nothing more than a common cold but you never know when the next strain is going to come,” he said.

The pandemic impacted far more than health. It brought closures, layoffs, furloughs and massive financial relief. Worker burnout and workforce shortages grew.

Even when the pressures relented, the imprint of COVID remained, said Bruce Stenslie, CEO of the Economic Development Collaborative in Ventura County.

“Just about every business closed or nearly closed for some period of time. Every family had someone drop out of the labor force. There is no normal relative to where we were before,” Stenslie said.

COVID doesn’t come up much at Ramirez's Salon Passion in Camarillo. Most people have put the virus behind them. But there are fewer customers most days and a couple of stylists who leased space at the salon have left because of financial burdens.

It still feels different, and at times, surreal, Ramirez said.

“It’s almost like a nightmare that happened and we’re finally waking up from it,” he said.

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: COVID-19 changed everything in Ventura County four years ago today