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Humboldt County Public Health confirmed two new COVID-19 cases, bringing September's total to 93, including 35 new cases, two additional hospitalizations and one death reported this week. 

The current countywide case total stands at 481 and Humboldt remains in the “moderate” category under the state's new four-tiered system, but health officials have warned that the region is on the verge of being pushed into the “substantial” risk tier, with the positivity rate over the past week at 3.6 percent.

The state's "substantial" risk tier — which includes counties averaging between 4 and seven new cases a day per 100,000 residents or test positivity rates of 5 to 8 percent — brings tighter restrictions, including further limiting indoor restaurant and gym capacities and closing some "non-essential indoor business operations," like office. If the county were to move into the "substantial risk" tier, it would then need to record numbers in the "moderate" tier for 21 consecutive days before the state would loosen the added restrictions. The state's framework, which was updated yesterday, was looking at county level data as of Sept. 5. Since then, Humboldt County has confirmed 72 new cases, or roughly 5.1 per 100,000 residents per day.

Statewide, the testing positivity rate sits at about 5.3 percent — slightly below the national rate of 5.5 percent — with an average of 9.1 new COVID-19 cases confirmed daily per 100,000 residents.

The two new cases reported today were confirmed after laboratories processed 163 samples.

To date, Humboldt County has seen 27 COVID-19 hospitalizations and six deaths. Nationally, more than 6.5 million cases have been confirmed with 194,092 fatalities, according to the Centers for Disease Control, including 760,013 cases and 14,451 deaths in California.

Basics of COVID-19

The California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control, state that symptoms of novel coronavirus include cough and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, or at least two of the following: fever, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or a new loss of taste or smell.

Emergency warning signs needing immediate medical attention include difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion or inability to awaken, and bluish lips or face.

In an emergency situation:

Call ahead to the emergency room or inform the 911 operator of the possibility of a COVID-19 infection and, if possible, put on a face mask.

Symptoms or possible exposure:

In the case of a possible exposure with symptoms — fever and cough or shortness of breath — contact your doctor’s office or the county Department of Health and Human Services, which has a hotline that can be reached during business hours at [email protected] or at (707) 441-5000. Residents seeking medical advice or questions about testing are asked to contact Public Health at [email protected] or at (707) 445-6200.

St. Joseph Health has also set up a virtual assessment tool as an aid to assess risk factors for contracting the illness, which can be found at here.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has started a rumor-control webpage that can be found here.

For the Journal's latest COVID stories, updates and information resources, click here.

Read the county's release below.

Humboldt County’s confirmed COVID-19 case count now stands at 481, after two additional cases were reported today. Today’s alert level stands at two or level yellow. Visit humboldtgov.org/dashboard to view the county’s Alert Level Assessment tool. For the most recent COVID-19 information, visit cdc.gov or cdph.ca.gov. Local information is available at humboldtgov.org or during business hours by contacting [email protected] or calling 707-441-5000.