The day before Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus, ordering most of California’s 40 million people to stay home and shelter in place, life was great for Ron Daniels and his twin brother, John. They had just finished construction on a 37,000-square-foot factory, where they would expand their family business: manufacturing theme-park-quality tree houses, high-end designer shooting galleries, and a wild menagerie of animal and cartoon-character robots.
But when Governor Gavin Newsom issued his stay-at-home order on March 19 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lights went out at the brothers’ 20-year-old dream of a business — Daniels Wood Land in Paso Robles — and almost all 55 of the Daniels’ employees found themselves out of work.
Ron Daniels remembers the moment well. “I just saw 20 years melt away and dissolve into nothingness.” Rather than go home and “vibrate and quiver,” Daniels said he and his brother asked if there was something they could do. More specifically, they asked their local fire marshals — the very next day. One of the fire marshals said, “‘We can’t find any Level One protective gowns,’” Daniels recounted, a key piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) needed by first responders.