NCJ Daily Online

Hoffman ‘Fully Expects’ Omicron to Hit Humboldt

As the Journal went to press Dec. 7, Humboldt County Public Health had confirmed 179 new COVID-19 cases with eight hospitalizations over the prior week.

Earlier on Dec. 7, Health Officer Ian Hoffman updated the board of supervisors on local COVID-19 conditions, saying that while the Omicron variant — which has now been confirmed in about a third of the United States — has not been confirmed locally, he “fully expects” that to change.

“We will continue to monitor and do genomic sequencing and other testing that might be able to detect that variant quickly, and let the public know once we do see any evidence of that in Humboldt County,” he said.

Public Health is continuing to ask local doctors to talk to their patients about their travel histories to identify those who may have been exposed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends international travelers get a COVID-19 test three to five days after travel regardless of vaccination status. Residents who test positive for the virus with at-home tests and have traveled internationally in the previous 14 days are asked to call the county’s Joint Information Center at 441-5000 to report results to Public Health.

After recording a test-positivity rate of 10.1 percent in July — the highest for any month since the pandemic began — the rate in Humboldt County jumped to 15.9 percent in August and 15.2 percent in September. In October, it dipped to 12.1 percent but rose to 14.2 percent in November and sits at 14.6 percent through the first seven days of December — a concerning upward trend as Humboldt County enters the holiday season with its pressures and pulls to travel and gather.

Last November, Humboldt County confirmed 329 new cases with a test-positivity rate of 3.6 percent, kicking off a holiday case surge that saw those numbers jump to 865 new cases with a 7.3 percent test-positivity rate in December, followed by 995 and 9.9 percent last January

Public Health officials continue to stress that the best way for residents to protect themselves from COVID-19 and variants like Omicron is to get vaccinated, wear masks indoors and in crowded places, get tested immediately regardless of vaccination status if any cold- or flu-like symptoms develop and stay home when sick.

The CDC has designated Humboldt County as an area of high community transmission and recommends holding gatherings outdoors when possible, limiting the number of participants in indoor gatherings, adjusting the indoor layout to allow for physical distancing and enhancing the ventilation of indoor spaces.

As of Dec. 7, a state database showed 18 Humboldt County residents hospitalized, with five under intensive care. While that’s well below the local hospital census peak of 42 COVID-19 patients on Sept. 3,

Bringing the Brass

Photo by Mark Larson TubaChristmas brought the brass to the gazebo in Old Town on Saturday, Dec. 4, with musicians decked out in commemorative buttons from events past. See the full slideshow at www.northcoastjournal.com. POSTED 12.07.21.

local hospitalization numbers have crept up steadily over the past two weeks.

The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized boosters for all eligible adults who are at least six months past their second shot of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines and two months past their shot of Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

The FDA also recently authorized the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use for children 5 to 11 years old and local pharmacies and pediatricians have begun making appointments, while Public Health announced it will hold several pediatric and family vaccination clinics. Appointments will be required and can be made at www.vaccines.gov. Boosters will not be available at these clinics.

Public Health reported Dec. 3 that Humboldt’s seven-day average case rate is currently at 12, meaning that for every 100,000 residents, 12 residents tested positive for the virus daily over the last seven days. But the case rate varies by vaccination status. The seven-day average case rate for fully vaccinated individuals was five per 100,000 residents per day, while the average daily case rate for unvaccinated individuals is 14 per 100,000 residents.

— Thadeus Greenson

POSTED 12.07.21

Digitally Speaking

The percentage of the 13 total COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in Humboldt County recorded between Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 that were confirmed in unvaccinated residents, while the average daily case rate for fully vaccinated residents was less than half that of their unvaccinated counterparts.

POSTED 12.06.21

They Said It

“We must remain vigilant against this variant, but it is not a cause for panic.”

— California Department of Public Health in a statement advising that the most important things residents can do to prevent the spread of Omicron and other COVID-19 variants are to get vaccinated and boosted, wear masks indoors, get tested if symptomatic and stay home if sick. POSTED 12.01.21

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Comment of the Week

“They should have cast it back into the fire from whence it was forged and destroyed it when they had the chance! The folly in hubris of the race of men shall be their undoing.”

— Michael Ciancioloa on the Journal’s Facebook page commenting on a story about a Nov. 29 burglary of Eureka City Hall in which a limited-edition replica of the ring of power in The Lord of the Rings trilogy — a gift from Eureka’s sister city in New Zealand — was stolen. POSTED 12.03.21

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