Humboldt County Health Officer Ian Hoffman announced at a press conference this afternoon that he is reinstating a countywide mask order requiring facial coverings in indoor public spaces, effective at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
The announcement comes amid a surge in local cases that officials believe is being fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant, with 82 cases being reported today, the largest single-day count to date since March of 2020. Hoffman also reported that the county is seeing the highest levels of hospitalization since the pandemic began.
With the 82, public health has confirmed 237 new COVID-19 cases so far this week on the heels of 217 last week.
“We have to protect the critical infrastructure of our fragile hospital system in Humboldt County, and we want to see businesses stay open,” Hoffman said. “We don’t want to return to lockdown situations and we have to have kids in school this fall … . It is with all of this in mind that we are doing this.”
The facial covering order will require that masks be worn in all indoor or enclosed spaces (except for a person’s residence), as well as outdoor spaces where individuals are unable to maintain a distance of 6 feet from others at all times. Those under 2 years old, who have breathing issues or who are physically unable to take off a mask on their own are exempt.
The county’s test-positivity rate, meanwhile, sits at 10.5 percent, the highest at any point throughout the pandemic.
According to a state database, 22 people are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 locally, including six under intensive care.
Humboldt County’s mask order follows others implemented in Los Angeles, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonomoa, Sacramento and Yolo counties in recent weeks as the Delta variant continues to spread through California.
The order replaces the masking recommendation public health issued last week, along with a new recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that masks be worn in indoor public spaces in all areas of “high” or “substantial” COVID-19 spread, which includes Humboldt County.
Former Health Officer Teresa Frankovich first issued a mask order that went into effect April 25, 2020, and remained in place until June 15, when California lifted most COVID-19 restrictions statewide.
Officials continue to urge local residents to get vaccinated, saying it is tremendously effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death. For more information on the vaccines and upcoming vaccination clinics, or to schedule an appointment, click here.
This article appears in The Advocate.
Saturday? Really? Come on, Ian. Do your job.
Mask now, as the problem is now.
Distance, stay home, wash well. If you have a breathing issue and “can’t wear a mask”, stay home.
We are back where we started, except for those who made the effort to get immunized. Hopefully others will make that choice as well now that we have returned to isolation and quarantine.
Yep. Get over the BS were still in this due to denial and politicization. This could have been over. It’s a pandemic. Covid doesn’t see your politics or religion. Stupid policy makers need to get it right. There is no trust, no honor system. If you don’t want to wear a mask stay home. Order online. Setting random dates to end procedures or when to start them is ludicrous. The problem has been, is, and will be. Until enough people are vaccinated the masking needs to stay. If that’s forever due to people’s BS then so be it. People brought this on themselves and hence onto those who are trying to do the right thing.
Cheers to all those who have had covid and are alive to tell the tale. And Blessings to those that have passed. Like so many of our famliy members who have died of cancer, caused by known causes, and obesity and heart failure, and cheers to those that have survived! Seems vaxed or not folks are getting this thing or other flus that are misconceived as covid by faulty test. I mean come on who hasn’t tested positive with no symptoms, or tested negative when fully having covid symptoms. Its not a war against who or who isnt vaxed, who is masked or not. Its nature or a bioweapom. Either way, do what makes you feel good. Vaxing does not stop transmission. Period. Mask DON’T work. Period. We are in this together. Period. Love is the way
(replying to “doggod”) While I understand the impulse to want to get rid of masks, I disagree with your argument completely. Vaccinations have been proven to work they do help with not contracting COVID 19. Masks have also been proven to work, there are many factors that also play into these items. If your mask isn’t “working” as well it can be due to it not being the right size or you not putting it on correctly. Some people who don’t wear masks and others who do are also a big factor, if you do not wear a mask you can contract COVID from others who don’t. Masks are a temporary solution to COVID and are here for people who didn’t get the vaccine, that is also why many places only allow fully vaccinated people to not wear masks. Fully vaccinated people are most likely to not contract COVID, if you got the PFIZER vaccine it has a 95% effectiveness rate. Vaccines produce antibodies in your system as if you were exposed to the disease, which causes immunity to the disease. All vaccines are not 1000% effective but they are so helpful and close to 100% effective, even if you do get COVID it feels like a cold, you can ask people who have had COVID with the vaccine how they felt, they will say it felt like a cold. If you do some research you can find out how vaccines have lowered the cases so much and how masks have also helped.