Today, Dr. Ian Hoffman, Humboldt County Health Officer, questioned the state’s “surprise” decision to move Humboldt County to the red level of COVID, making it one of four counties in the state in no less than that the highest level of concern – and the only one of the four that is not subject to the regional order of stay at home.
Video above, approximate transcript below.
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From Redwood News: “Could you explain why you disagree with the state’s methodology for moving Humboldt County back to the red level?”
Of course, well, let me talk about the different ways that we see data. The state CDPH has a methodology that analyzes the data with a seven-day lag, plus two more days, because it takes a long time to obtain the data. So we are really looking at data that is nine days old. Here in Humboldt County, we get the data directly almost daily. Therefore, we are analyzing the data in real time and, to give an example, currently our case count is about 100 about what they have in the state.
From the Costa Perdida Outpost: “If the county does not agree with the state’s decision to place us in the red layer, the health officer has the authority to keep the highest purple layer restrictions in place with a local request. Why don’t you do that? “
So this is a balancing act that many health workers and staff have had to follow, this very fine line throughout the pandemic. An order of integrity is a tool in the toolbox and it is not delicate, it is very strong and for which there is not much enthusiasm in our community now. We need membership if something is going to change. So, no matter what level we are at, there are things we can do to keep our community safe.
Companies that can open can choose not to open and can choose to protect their customers and their staff due to the uncertainty surrounding all of this and given the uncertainty that we could return to the purple level or regional requests to stay at home. People can choose to meet, but they can choose to keep their home safe by not meeting and churches can decide not to reopen indoor services. We at Public Health have never seen the numbers look worse and what we are hearing from many people in the community is that they understand this and continue to act as if we are in the purple layer while we are inside the red layer.
From Redheaded Blackbelt: “With Humboldt being at the least restrictive red level, there is a travel restriction between counties that can inhibit non-essential travel and prevent people in other areas of the state from taking a winter vacation trip to the only county in the state with open restaurants and other places available to the public? “
Therefore, the red versus purple level does not affect travel restrictions. There is a statewide travel notice that none of us should travel outside of our area of residence and that it applies throughout California and then to the rest of California outside Northern California, there is a request regional home stay that says you shouldn’t, you shouldn’t travel out of your home, except for work or essential community needs.
So currently in Northern California, if you were going to travel, it is recommended that you stay in your county or that you drive no more than two to three hours from your home and that must be really for essential travel or you know, going out from home, taking walks to the beaches, that kind of thing is still highly encouraged because we want to stay healthy and active during this period.
From Redheaded Blackbelt: “As for the potential to see outside visitors coming to Humboldt in the light of these new adjustments to the level status, do you have a concern that Airbnb rentals will continue to operate locally? Regarding visitors during the New Year holiday weekend, what supervision, if any, is in place when traveling to the county for recreational purposes and holidays? ”
As I mentioned earlier, travel advice across the state, county, any region that is on a regional home stay order is part of that order to stay home and not travel away from your home and you know, there really is supervision of jurisdiction in each of the jurisdictions that would be responsible for any execution of those orders.
From Redheaded Blackbelt: “What advice would you give to restaurant owners who are questioning the reopening allowance and whether it is worth reopening just to be closed again in the next few days, considering this planning for food preparation, storage, staff, deliveries, etc. . is it expensive and time consuming? ”
I would strongly advise anyone with a restaurant at the moment and who is planning to reopen that they should be concerned about the possibility of reversal. As I mentioned, we could, you know, trigger regional home stay requests very easily and that will take effect immediately. In addition, if our numbers increase rather than decrease, the red layer can certainly be transformed back into the purple layer, which would limit indoor meals.
From the Times-Standard: “Dr. Hoffman on Tuesday expressed strong disagreement with the state’s decision to move Humboldt County from the general purple COVID risk level to the less restrictive, substantial red risk level. Is the county moving to awarding levels? “
There is no process for awarding levels in this direction. The layer award process is for moving to more restrictive layers.
From KMUD News: Now that Humboldt is at the red level, what can be allowed for shopping and dining indoors? “
Therefore, all of this can be found on the Blueprint for Safer Economy website. If you have more questions, check this out. But domestic retail reaches 50%, while internal meals are allowed at 25% at the red level.
Also from KMUD News: Do you foresee that Humboldt will return to the purple layer? What would trigger the reassignment? “
Very difficult to say for sure. Again: all the time, the numbers didn’t seem to have decreased locally, so we’re concerned about that. What would trigger a return to the purple level would be a 15% increase in the state’s figures in the coming weeks, which I really think is likely.