Five 101 Closures at Last Chance Grade Coming in May
Caltrans will be fully shutting down U.S. Highway 101 at Last Chance Grade overnight five times in May to conduct roadwork needed to stabilize the notorious stretch of road in Del Norte County. According to a Facebook post, the closures on May 11, 12 and 13 will take place from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.…
Deadline Approaches for Community Members to Weigh in on Phases of Business Openings
Do you have feelings about which local non-essential businesses should re-open first after Gov. Gavin Newsom declares the state all clear to move out of portions of this COVID-19 induced statewide shelter-in-place order? If so, the county of Humboldt would like to hear from you. To reduce the risk to public health, the county plans to…
Public Health Confirms 54th Positive COVID-19 Case
For the second time in the past week, Humboldt County Public Health has confirmed another new COVID-19 case, bringing the countywide tally to 54. Today’s results come after Public Health processed another 62 samples and corporate labs reported results from another 11, bringing the day’s total to 73. Of the 54 cases Humboldt County has…
UPDATE: Hoopa OES Food Distribution Sees Incredible Demand
UPDATE: The Hoopa Office of Emergency Services planned to hand out food boxes from three locations yesterday from noon to 4 p.m. to launch a three-day distribution event. It ran out of supplies in 45 minutes, having given out more than 200 boxes. The event will continue today at a single location — the Hoopa…
California Could Reopen Schools in July, Newsom Says
California could reopen for an earlier school year, perhaps as soon as late July, to make up for lost learning time, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today in laying out a course for easing his shelter-in-place order. Pointing to the state’s stable hospitalization data, the governor delivered hopeful news for throngs of parents struggling with distance…
Prison Work Crew Helps Construct Surge Unit at Redwood Acres
Work developing a medical surge unit at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds to prepare for a spike in COVID-19 cases got a boost this week when a prison work crew came to help out. The 100-bed facility at the fairgrounds is designed to provide an alternate care site to treat mildly ill patients and free up hospital…
Grief When the Losses Mount
It has been a month and a half since my 9-year-old daughter has been in the physical presence of another child. To fully interact, to imagine, to run and play. She is not unique in this scenario that is being experienced by many children worldwide. She said kindly on a walk a few days ago,…
Signs to Mark Health Order Compliant Restaurants
While on your essential outings, you may start seeing green signs that read, “This facility is compliant,” in the windows of open restaurants around the county. The signs, introduced April 27, list four main practices to slow the spread of COVID-19 — wearing facial coverings, practicing social distancing and hand washing, and offering only takeout/curbside…
Public Health: No New COVID Cases as County Increases Testing Capacity
Humboldt County Public Health announced this afternoon it has confirmed no new COVID-19 cases after 58 additional tests, leaving the countywide case count at 53, with 52 of those people having recovered. Just three local samples have tested positive since April 7, with the most recent coming Friday. With today’s results, the county has now…
Property Tax Waiver Process in Place as More Pay Late
The county of Humboldt saw about a 4 percent drop in property taxes paid by the April 10 deadline, which came amid the COVID-19 outbreak that has shuttered businesses and left thousands in the region out of work. According to Treasurer-Tax Collector John Bartholomew, 89 percent of the payments came in on time compared to…
Public Health: No New COVID-19 Cases, 1.5% of Local Population Tested
Humboldt County Public Health announced this afternoon no new COVID-19 cases after 36 additional tests, leaving the countywide case count at 53, with 52 of those people having recovered. Just three local samples have tested positive since April 7, with the most recent coming Friday. With today’s results, the county has now seen more than…
California Climate Credit Lowers PG&E Bills Amid COVID-19 Financial Woes
If you’re seeing a lower charge on your PG&E utility bill, it’s because of the California Climate Credit, part of California’s efforts to fight climate change. Twice a year, the credit is applied to utility companies that are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Co. customers usually receive…
A Thank You to Our Members
For nearly 30 years, the North Coast Journal has been covering the stories and people you care about in Humboldt County. We’re proud to share our coverage in print and online for free so everyone — with or without internet access or the means to subscribe to a paper — can stay informed, especially during…
Public Health: No New COVID-19 Cases, One New Hospitalization
Humboldt County Public Health announced no new positive COVID-19 cases after processing 80 more local samples, though the county has seen another resident hospitalized due to the disease. The announcement comes after the county confirmed its 53rd case yesterday, breaking an eight-day streak of new no cases and marking just the third local sample to…
Construction Begins on Makeshift Medical Facility at Redwood Acres
Construction has begun on an alternate care site at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds that will be able to treat up to 100 non-critical patients in the event hospital capacity is overrun by a surge of COVID-19 cases. According to a post on the HumCo COVID Facebook page, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services arrived Friday with…
HSU: Soliciting Investigation Ongoing, Faculty Member No Longer on Campus
Humboldt State University announced today that a faculty member accused of soliciting students no longer works on campus but said in the news release that details of the investigation and its outcome are not being made public because it is a personnel matter. Students who may have been harmed are encouraged to seek out assistance…
Interpreting Equity During a Pandemic
One of my first memories interacting with other children in our community is of having my older brother, Mauro, interpret for me as we were playing — he was attending school and picking up English much faster than I was. We would migrate back and forth from Mexico where my abuelita y abuelo (grandma and…
Show Us Your #NCJMaskSelfie
Humboldt County is officially masking up to flatten the curve and slow the spread of COVID-19. That means wearing a mask on your essential outings and the Journal wants to see your new look — you may even see yourself in the paper, on our social media or our online gallery. Post a smiling/smoldering (we…
Public Health Confirms First Local COVID-19 Case in Eight Days
For the first time in more than a week, Humboldt County has a new COVID-19 case. Public Health announced this afternoon that the county has confirmed its 53rd case, breaking a streak of eight days without a new case. This is the just the third local sample that has returned positive since April 7. The…
NCJ Preview with Access Humboldt
This week: We’re talking about a photographer taking portraits of people from outside their homes during shelter in place in Blue Lake and the new mask ordinance in Humboldt County. Also, Instacart is gaining popularity under quarantine but it’s lagging on getting protective gear to its workers. We’ll tell you how one gig worker is…
Time to Mask Up, Humboldt
At one minute past midnight today, facial coverings became the law of land in Humboldt County under an order announced Tuesday by county Health Officer Teresa Frankovich. The ideal is simply: By wearing a mask you help protect others from a possible transmission of COVID-19 and when other people wear facial coverings, they help protect…
Local COVID Models Forecast Dozens of Deaths, More Than 100 Hospitalizations
Local models used by Public Health to predict the spread of COVID-19 project that if Humboldt County keeps all current social distancing orders in place, it could still see 28 deaths by December, at which point there could be 145 hospitalizations, with 64 people under intensive care and 38 using ventilators. That’s one of two…
HSU to Have Virtual Commencement Ceremony
Humboldt State University will be hosting a virtual graduation ceremony for this semester’s graduating students May 16, the same day the in-person ceremony would’ve been held at the Redwood Bowl. The university shuttered its campus and shifted entirely to online instruction March 17 as fears mounted about the COVID-19 pandemic, and administrators have been working…
Public Health: Streak of No New COVID Cases Continues
Humboldt County Public Health again announced no new positive tests today, leaving the county’s COVID-19 tally at 52 for the eighth day in a row. The announcement comes after the county recorded one positive case each on April 14 and April 15, the sole new cases locally since April 7, and two days after county officials…
COVID-19 Losses Continue to Mount, with More than 2,100 HumCo Workers Laid Off
Humboldt County businesses continue to shed jobs in the face of the county’s shelter-in-place order aimed at halting the spread of the deadly COVID-19 disease. Responding to a survey conducted by the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services, 668 businesses have combined to report more than $28.3 million in lost revenue and the permanent loss…
‘Alone Together’ Collaboration Strikes a Chord
Most of the time when the Bayside Music Collective plays, “It never leaves the building,” says Mike Dronkers, who describes it as “an informal group of people who do music with no end goal.” The group shifted to remote jamming when shelter in place came down, with Dronkers passing around tracks to which the individual…
News Roundup: DA Will Prosecute ‘Flagrant’ Mask Order Violators, Dozens in Crescent City Protest Shelter Order (Without Masks)
Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming is prepared to prosecute people who “flagrantly” violate the Public Health Officer’s order that local residents wear facial coverings when inside buildings that aren’t their home, covered spaces and when they can’t maintain 6 feet of physical distancing outside, according to a report in the Times-Standard. Violating the order…
No Need For Company
Enjoying my own company Sharing space with just one friend, Who lovingly lays next to me from morning til day’s end. No need to entertain her she’s content without the need, To fill the air with idle talk, or boring words to heed. So many people disappoint they must not know the joy, of real…
Front Window
In one of Janessa Johnsrude’s photos, a mother and daughter sit perched in an open window, smiling at one another, a big, milky-eyed dog between them. Their tableau, framed by the window of the house, is overlaid with the branches of an apple tree bright with pink blossoms and a set of copper wind chimes…
Tests and Models and Masks
As this edition of the Journal went to press, Humboldt County was riding a wave of seemingly good news. It had been nearly a week since the last new COVID-19 case on April 15, the county had only announced two new cases since April 7 and Public Health had recently reported that all but two…
Shopping for Strangers on Instacart, Relying on Friends
Rachael Trump started delivering for Instacart in early February, when the U.S. was counting its first confirmed COVID-19 cases and weeks before Humboldt County and the state of California instituted shelter-in-place orders. “I had been looking for several months for something,” Trump says. She needed to supplement her income with something flexible that would fit…
Each Other
“Honestly, that’s what we’ve got. We’ve got each other.” David Cobb was talking to the Journal about Cooperation Humboldt, the nonprofit he co-founded, and its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s true of all of us. In ways that have never been so plain, community resilience is vital. And it will likely be further…
