News

The economic losses of the COVID-19 induced shutdown continue to mount, with at least 270 more job losses in Humboldt County over the last week, according to an ongoing economic impact survey of local businesses conducted by the Office of Emergency Services.

The 729 businesses that have responded report a total revenue loss of $30.2 million, with 2,408 employees having been let go. According to data from the U.S. Census, that equates to a loss of about 7 percent of the county’s workforce with just 23 percent of employers having responded to the survey.

At Tuesday’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Meeting, Economic Development Director Scott Adair told the board the state Employment Development Department received 5,846 local unemployment claims in March.

As of April 22, workers in the accommodation and food services industries had been by far the hardest hit, followed by retail employees. (See graphic above.)

As of yesterday, Humboldt County had confirmed 54 COVID-19 cases and, despite four hospitalizations, 52 of those people have since recovered. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control reported 1,031,659 COVID-19 cases with 60,057 deaths, including 48,917 cases and 1,982 fatalities in California.

County OES is encouraging all local businesses impacted by COVID-19 to fill out its survey, which can be found here, as it will help the county assess local impacts and potentially receive state and federal disaster assistance funds. The OES website also has a host of resources for impacted businesses.