DIY Community Face Mask Template
COVID-19’s upward trajectory, Humboldt’s response to the 2018 flu epidemic, and putting community first by putting on a mask
Public Health: No New COVID-19 Cases Today
For the first time in more than two weeks, Humboldt County Public Health announced today zero new COVID-19 cases today, leaving the county’s total at 50. After the county’s caseload double last week, the rate of positive tests results has slowed considerably with five positive tests confirmed Sunday and Monday, one yesterday and none today.…
Mad River Hospital Announces Furloughs
Mad River Community Hospital will be furloughing a significant portion of its workforce for the indefinite future as a result of plummeting patient numbers due to canceled nonessential surgeries and appointments amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital announced today. According to a press release, the hospital has seen a 40 to 70-percent decrease in its…
News Roundup: St. Joes Gets First Trial Patient, Census Needs People to Count
The Times-Standard is reporting that St. Joseph Hospital has already started clinical trials of the antiviral drug remdesivir with a local COVID-19 patient. “They fell into the severe COVID category with dropping oxygen and thus were a candidate for the trial,” St. Joseph Health-Humboldt County CEO Roberta Luskin-Hawk told the Times-Standard’s Ruth Schneider. The intravenous drug that…
HSU Faces $20 Million Deficit; CR’s Situation Dire, Too
A joint press release this afternoon sounds the alarm bells that both it and Humboldt State University face “immense budget” deficits at least exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Difficult decisions apparently lie ahead, including staff reductions. According to the press release, HSU was already facing deficit of more than $5 million due to already declining…
One New COVID-19 Case Brings County Tally to 50
Humboldt County got some good news this afternoon — or at least better news than we’ve been growing accustomed to. Public Health announced just one new person tested positive for COVID-19 today and there have been no new hospitalizations, a welcome reprieve in a span that has seen 48 positive cases over the past two…
Wear a Mask! OK, But What Kind?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday recommended every American wear a face mask while in public to protect against spreading coronavirus, a recommendation that was quickly seconded by Humboldt County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich. The agency announced that non-medical fabric masks — even scarves or bandannas — could help slow the spread of…
St. Joseph Approved to Participate in Trials of Possible COVID-19 Drug
St. Joseph Hospital just announced that it has been cleared to participate in two national clinical trials of the anti-viral drug Remdesivir for treatment of moderate and severe cases of COVID-19. According to a press release, St. Joseph was proactive in seeking accelerated approval for the trials in Humboldt because it believes the drug has…
Eureka Mayor Talks Efforts to Protect Homeless Residents (VIDEO)
Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman has released a public service announcement updating the community on the city’s efforts to care for its homeless residents amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Humboldt County. In it, she announces a number of new services and protocols, and says the Eureka Police Department recently gave 500 N95 masks, which are in…
Public Health: Five Positive COVID-19 Tests Bring County Total to 49
Humboldt County Public Health announced this afternoon that five COVID-19 tests from local residents have come back positive since Saturday, bringing the county’s total to 49. Forty-seven of those positive tests have been returned in the last 13 days, with 28 over the past week. Public Health is also reporting it believes six of the…
Supes Talk County COVID Response, Eviction Moratorium and Property Tax Deadline
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors met in special session this morning to ratify Sheriff William Honsal’s declaration of a local emergency in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also heard a variety of staff reports on the county’s response. North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman updated supervisors via teleconference on federal support available and…
L.A. Times: Scientists Concerned over Potential COVID-19 Exposure from Beach Walks and Swimming
The Los Angeles Times is reporting potential COVID-19 infection risk at California beaches, not just from other people out for walks and surfing, but from the ocean and its spray. The piece quotes Kim Prather, an atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who “worries SARS-CoV-2 could enter the ocean from sewage spills and outfalls, and…
Public Health Announces Four More COVID-19 Cases, One More Hospitalization
Humboldt County Public Health announced another four positive COVID-19 cases today, bringing the county’s total to 44. There has also been another hospitalization, according to a Public Health press release. Forty-two of those positive tests have been returned in the last 11 days, with 23 over the past five. Public Health is also reporting it…
Community Generosity Brings New Ventilators to Humboldt but Capacity Still a Critical Concern
The race to increase Humboldt County’s capacity to care for the wave of critically ill COVID-19 cases officials fear is coming got a major boost this week, thanks to a ripple effect of generosity. It began with nearly 100 local women coming together to donate $105,000 to St. Joseph Hospital to cover the purchase of…
News Roundup: LoCo Reports Whistleblowers at FedEx and T-S Looks at Mental Health Services in Age of COVID
The Lost Coast Outpost is reporting that whistleblowers are calling out what they deem unsafe conditions in local FedEx operations that could spread the COVID-19 virus to customers and employees. The employees tell the Outpost’s Ryan Burns that they don’t believe proper precautions are being taken in the local warehouse and they haven’t been given…
Public Health: Humboldt Now Has 40 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases
Humboldt County Public Health announced four additional local COVID-19 cases today, but also that it mistakenly reported a positive patient from a neighboring county as a local case yesterday, bringing Humboldt’s current tally to an even 40. Thirty-eight of those positive tests have been returned in the last 10 days, with 19 over the past…
Public Health: People Should Wear Masks When Leaving Home
Humboldt County Public Health Officer Teresa Frankovich is now recommending members of the public wear face coverings when leaving home to conduct essential business, saying the recommendation comes after “emerging information” that suggests a benefit to the practice. “Because of this, I am recommending that all members of our community use face coverings of some…
DIY Face Mask Template
Adapted by the Journal’s art director Jonathan Webster from instructions by Sue Giboney of Providence St. Joseph Health. Go to www.providence.org/lp/100m-masks for more detailed instuctions plus a video tutorial. Here it is in living color and also in ink-saving black-and-white. Get craftin’ Humboldt!
Sara Bareilles and Guy Fieri are Taking COVID-19 Seriously and So Should You
Yesterday People reported that Eureka’s singer-songwriter and person who’s made me cry with songs about pie Sara Bareilles announced on an Instagram story that she contracted but fully recovered from COVID-19. “I had it, just so you know. I’m fully recovered, just so you know,” she says in the video as she takes what appears…
Eureka City Schools Shifts to Distance Learning, T-S Reports
The Times-Standard is reporting that the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees has voted to shift entirely to distance learning for the remainder of the year following a recommendation from the Humboldt County Office of Education and the public health officer in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report quotes Superintendent Fred Van Vleck…
NCJ Preview with Access Humboldt
This week we’re sharing updates about Humboldt’s COVID-19 cases and community transmission, and looking back at how the county managed during the 1918-1919 flu epidemic. And why wearing a DIY mask is a way to put your community first. Click subscribe for weekly YouTube video updates.
Public Health Announces Spike in Local COVID-19 Cases with Nine New Positives
Humboldt County’s spike in positive COVID-19 cases continued today in a big way, with Public Health announcing a 32 percent increase — nine new cases, bringing the county’s total to 37. All but two of those has been announced over the last nine days. “Follow the shelter-in-place order, and if you must leave your home,…
Redwood Acres Fair Canceled
Like so many annual events, the Redwood Acres Fair and Junior Livestock Auction is not to be this year due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19. The fair’s board and organizers are working out whether an online livestock sale is possible for the 4-H and FFA students who’ve worked hard to raise their animals.…
HCOE Recommends Schools Remain Closed for the Term
According to a press release, the Humboldt County Office of Education plans to follow the advice of Public Health Officer Teresa Frankovich and the recommendation of Gov. Newsom and advise local school facilities to remain closed through the end of the school year. Distance learning implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19 will continue. The…
Dear Readers:
At 7:30 a.m. last Tuesday I was waiting my turn behind a strip of tape on the sidewalk outside the North Coast Co-op in Arcata. I hope you are following the rules, like me — in my case, shopping senior-only hours. I spotted store clerk Larry Crabb clicking a plastic hand counter at the door,…
Fires and Masks
I used to love to visit the Fire Museum in Tokyo. There you could see the traditional irezumi tattoos of firefighters along with models of the tight rows of wooden houses that made up towns in Edo Japan. Woodblock prints and dioramas showed how the firefighters, roving bands of tough guys, would, instead of throwing…
Distance Connected Learning
A friend was lamenting the other day that both she and her husband were working 12-hour days from home. Their two school-aged children, she said, mostly had to fend for themselves. She explained that she felt like she was failing them. I could relate. It’s hard to divide your attention between work and family, even…
Disequilibrium
Breath in, breath out. On the Adirondack bench beneath the kiwi arbor late afternoon sun beneath bluest of sky, stilling my mind, emptying thoughts: focus on the cool air traversing nostrils, filling belly sending calming goodness throughout my body. Just breathe. Just be. Here in this moment. But the words I didn’t know I’d have…
The 200th Victim
In 1918 my dad, part of the U. S. Army’s First Division, was on a troop ship bound for France. The soldiers on board slept in bunk beds. My dad had a lower bunk, and each morning he would kick the bunk above him to wake up the soldier sleeping there. One morning he kicked…
Upward Trajectory
In a flurry of activity over the late afternoon and evening hours of March 30, Humboldt County officials announced that the local spread of COVID-19 was growing more serious, with two community transmission cases, and took more drastic actions to contain the virus. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal declared a local emergency, putting his Office…
Switching up the Recipe
Barbara and Michael Jewell are still selling Jewell Distillery’s moonshine, vodka, gin and local blackberry liqueur out of their Blue Lake shop, but they’ve added a new item to their stock: hand sanitizer. As California residents shelter in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, “We wanna make sure you’re internally and externally sanitized,” says…
Eyes of a Child
Well here we are, and it continues. The impact of COVID-19 on daily routines, home environments, family livelihoods, how we move through our communities, how we educate our children and how we communicate with family, friends and coworkers — everything shifting in the dynamic landscape of “shelter-in-place.” As a community, we come together to “flatten…
