Humboldt was placed in the red layer on February 23. | Image via covid19.ca.gov.
###
The pandemic is finally slowing down a little.
Hoffman
Rates of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and Humboldt County hospitalizations have fallen and stabilized enough that, even if the state wishes to return us to the most restrictive purple level of public health regulations, the county team will protest against the decision, allowing us to remain at the red level for at least next week, said public health officer, Dr. Ian Hoffman, at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
Governor Gavin Newsom is scheduled to provide the latest updates on Tuesday’s county level designations at noon. Based on local data, the state on February 23 reduced Humboldt County from the more restrictive purple layer to the red layer, allowing businesses, schools and organized sports to have a little more freedom.
Hoffman said the county recently accumulated a week of sufficient epidemiological data to justify a return to the purple level. This means that we had more than seven new cases per 100,000 people and / or a positive test rate above 8 percent. (Our adjusted case rate per 100,000 is currently at 8.2 on the county panel.) But Hoffman and the rest of the county’s Public Health team don’t want to see the county’s “yo-yo” between the layers when things look stable, he said.
“So we are communicating with the state of California, trying to make sure we are advocating,” continued Hoffman. “We strongly believe that our metrics reflected that our case rates are stable.”
As the last wave of COVID peaked locally in late January, the county’s case rate rose to 26 per 100,000 people. Since then, it has stabilized between six and 10 per 100,000. The hospitalization rate has also dropped dramatically, from an increase of more than 15 a day during the one-digit increase now.
“We decided that if the state tried to move us to purple, we would ask for judgment,” Hoffman told the council this morning, referring to the formal appeal process allowed by the state’s Blueprint for the Safer Economy. Through judgment, counties can protest the transfer to a more restrictive level if the public health team believes that the decision did not take into account data discrepancies or “qualitative and contextual elements”. During the award process, the county tier status would remain unchanged.
“But we want to recognize that this recovery is fragile,” added Hoffman, noting that we are not far from the wave and new variants of COVID-19 represent “a real threat”.
“So we will continue to fight and, hopefully, the state will make the right decision,” he said.
The situation at local hospitals has improved so much that the county plans to remove the “ICU capability” from its COVID panel.
More than 8% of the county’s eligible population has already received at least one dose of the vaccine, a number that Hoffman called “an incredible testimony to the effort made in Humboldt County in recent months”. And while progress continues to be hampered by limited availability of vaccines, Hoffman said the situation is expected to improve in the coming months, especially as Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccines gain greater distribution.
Last week, the state announced that it would reserve 40% of its vaccine supply for the most vulnerable neighborhoods, a collection of 400 postal codes with lower levels of family income, education and access to health care. Humboldt County has 13 postcodes, and Hoffman said we should learn this week how it will affect our vaccine supplies.
“It looks like we are at a really tangible turning point with this pandemic,” he said, adding that with the drop in case rates, we can finally expect “some return to normal.”
But he also warned against letting his guard down, saying: “In the end, the things that led us to where we are today will still be the cornerstone” – that is, masking, social detachment, washing hands and avoiding meetings with several families.
The county is now encouraging all residents aged 65 and over to contact the Joint Information Center at (707) 441-5000 with any questions about getting in line for a vaccine.
Hoffman said we are getting “much, much closer” to the point where anyone who wants a vaccine can get it. That much-desired time is “probably only a few months ahead,” he said.