click to flip through (2) If mass vaccination is the road that will ultimately lead Humboldt County and the nation out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it s proving a bit bumpy, with a series of blind turns that seemingly just keep coming. There were glimmers of hope in a Jan. 14 press conference one of just a handful held since the county was put under a shelter-in-place order last March when Health Officer Ian Hoffman announced Humboldt had offered a vaccine to all local healthcare workers and would be moving in the coming days to vaccinate residents aged 75 and older. Further, Hoffman said he expected vaccine shipments from the state to potentially double in the coming weeks.
COVID REPORT: Forty-Nine New Cases Confirmed Today, Joint Information Center Says
Press release from the Humboldt County Joint Information Center:
A total of 2,220 county residents have tested positive for COVID-19, after 49 new cases were reported today.
In vaccine news, today the county moved into Phase 1B-tier 1, starting with people age 75 and older.
Public Health Director Michele Stephens said, “We continue to work through the tiers in our plan and are now opening up to people 75 and older since there is sufficient vaccine to do so. As we receive additional vaccine, we’ll open up additional tiers.”
Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman said as Public Health wraps up one phase, it’s preparing for the next. “We’re vaccinating groups in tandem,” he said. “We will continue to work with our health care partners to message when and where people can receive their vaccine.”
As this issue went to press and December and 2020 drew to a close, it seemed clear the COVID-19 case surge officials have long warned of is upon us. The only question remaining is how much worse it will get.
Fueled by what officials described as a perfect storm of pandemic fatigue, holiday get-togethers and the onset of cold weather pushing ill-advised social gatherings indoors, December saw cases spike dramatically on the North Coast, with hospitalizations and deaths following. As the
Journal went to press, the month had already accounted for 47 percent of 1,678 cases confirmed to date throughout the pandemic s first 10 months, as well as 55 percent of COVID-related deaths and 27 percent of hospitalizations. The month also saw the county s test-positivity rate which sits at 3 percent for the duration of the pandemic more than double to 7 percent. And officials remained braced for the spike to worsen in the weeks after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Local health officials are expressing concern after the state moved Humboldt County out of the “widespread” COVID-19 risk tier today for the first time in.