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To date, Humboldt County has confirmed 2,031 cases, with 73 hospitalizations and 23 confirmed COVID-19 related deaths. Eight Humboldt County residents are currently hospitalized, according to the county's dashboard, including two under intensive care.

The county also announced today that a previously reported positive case and hospitalization was determined to be unrelated to COVID-19 and has been removed from the county's dashboard.

The order doesn't currently affect Humboldt County.

This week, the state also issued an updated travel advisory strongly discouraging all non-essential travel and urging anyone returning from non essential, out-of-state travel needs to self-quarantine for a minimum of 10 days upon their return.

As one of only four counties not currently in the purple or "widespread" tier, and since the region is not yet under the state's stay home order like more than 98 percent of California's residents, some Humboldt businesses and organizations have been allowed to resume limited indoor operations, including restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and places of worship.

But that will change when the county moves back up to the more restrictive ranking, which is expected to happen Tuesday. So far this month, 194 cases have been recorded on the heels of a steady stream of cases confirmed last week.

As of this morning, the state reported the Northern California region had a combined 27.5 percent capacity. If implemented locally, the stay home order will temporarily close bars, wineries, personal service salons, hair salons and barbershops, while retail stores will be limited to 20 percent capacity and restaurants will be limited to take-out and delivery only. Schools that have a waiver will be allowed to remain open to in-person instruction and critical infrastructure will remain open. The order also temporarily prohibits all non-essential travel.

In Humboldt County, healthcare workers have already said there are emergency room patients who have been waiting for days for transfers out of the area for specialized care because hospitals throughout the state don't have available beds.

Today's Humboldt County cases were confirmed after 430 samples were processed with a test-positivity rate of 7.9 percent.

Nationally, 21.5 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, including 279,401 yesterday, with 364,029 deaths, including a single-day record 4,180 reported yesterday, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Statewide, 2.5 million cases have been confirmed, including 36,385 yesterday, with 28,045 COVID-related deaths, according to the California Department of Public Health.

The state of California largely depends on two metrics to determine where a county falls in its tier system: the percentage of COVID-19 tests administered that come back positive over a seven-day period and the average number of new positive cases confirmed per 100,000 in population daily over the course of a week. Both have spiked dramatically in recent weeks.

While California has a case rate of 74.1 daily cases confirmed per 100,000 residents (down from 93.1) with a test positivity rate of 15 percent in data released today, Humboldt has a case rate of 16.3 cases per 100,000 (up from 14 last week) and a 5.2 percent positivity rate, also an increase.

Meanwhile, the county's Joint Information Center is urging locals to get tested, calling it "one of the most helpful things county residents can do for the community at large," because it allows Public Health to catch cases early and limit spread. The state-run OptumServe testing site at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka is open seven days a week and no-cost appointments can be made by clicking here or calling (888) 634-1123.

The Humboldt County Data Dashboard includes hospitalization rates by age group, death rates by age group and case totals by ZIP code, the latter of which are reported in "a range of 0 to 5 for case count until the area surpasses 5 total cases," according to the county. After that threshold has been reached in a ZIP code, the exact number will be included.

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 assessing risk factors for contracting the illness, which can be found 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. Find the press release from Public Health copied below.

Jan. 8, 2021 - 34 Additional Cases Reported Today

707-441-5000 ; [email protected] ; Monday-Friday 8am to 5pm Opens in new window
Thirty-four new cases of COVID-19 were reported today. A person previously reported to be a positive case and subsequently hospitalized was later determined to be negative and suffering from an illness unrelated to COVID. Both the case and hospitalization have been removed from Humboldt County’s count. One additional hospitalization was reported today, so the cumulative number of hospitalizations stands at 73, and the total number of residents who have tested positive for the virus is now 2,031.

The California Department of Public Health issued an updated travel advisory this week strongly discouraging all non-essential travel. The advisory states that anyone who chooses to travel from another state for non-essential reasons, such as tourism or recreation, needs to self-quarantine for a minimum of 10 days upon arrival. The advisory covers all 58 California counties. Additional restrictions are in place for counties that fall under the Regional Stay Home Order, but they do not apply to Humboldt at this time.

Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman said limiting travel is intended to stop the spread of COVID-19 in order to preserve state and local intensive care unit (ICU) capacity. “Our ICU capacity has been relatively stable recently, but as of today, we know of a few local voluntary decisions to delay elective procedures in order to preserve that capacity,” he said.

Read more about the state order at covid19.ca.gov/travel.

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.


Local COVID-19 vaccine information: humboldtgov.org/vaccineinfo
Humboldt County COVID-19 Data Dashboard: humboldtgov.org/dashboard
Follow us on Facebook: @HumCoCOVID19
Instagram: @HumCoCOVID19
Twitter: @HumCoCOVID19
Humboldt Health Alert: humboldtgov.org/HumboldtHealthAlert

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