Delivery of the 2020 Rio Americano yearbook has been delayed until August because of state-mandated restrictions at the printing plant aimed at protecting workers from Covid-19.

Yearbook adviser Michael Mahoney said the news was disappointing but understandable. 

“The yearbook staff worked really hard on this book, so of course they are saddened that people will have to wait to see it,” Mahoney said. “We had to finish the book from home after school closed, but we kept adding content into April and hopefully we have something memorable that captures how crazy this year is and how amazing Rio students are.” 

Annette Johnson, the school’s representative for Herff-Jones, which has printed the annual Tesoro since the early 1980s, explained the delivery delay.

“The plant had a required closure because of COVID-19 so we lost six weeks of production time during our busiest time of the year,” she said. “Now that we are back open, social-distancing rules have restricted us to a limited capacity of people and time, which is further delaying our production.”

The book is now scheduled to ship on Aug. 1 and would be ready for pick up a few days after that. 

“I am seeing if we can get that bumped up at all,” Johnson said, adding that worker safety is the first priority. 

Mahoney said he understands the disappointment for seniors who have given up so much of their last year of high school but added that the delay would allow the yearbook to add a senior supplement to expand senior coverage. 

This story has been updated to reflect a new shipping date of Aug. 1, up one week from the original date of Aug. 8.