County’s top doc: ‘Please don’t travel’
Not wearing a mask ‘like putting a death sentence on some elderly folks’
Humboldt County’s new top health officer put out a call to the community to do its best to curb the spread of COVID-19 locally.
“This is the virus in our community circulating freely,” Dr. Ian Hoffman told the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning. “If you didn’t wear a mask up to this point, we don’t fault you. It’s OK. But please, now is the time for the next month, until we get through this. (Until) we get the vaccine and we feel confident again, then we can take our masks off.”
He stressed the need to wear a mask to protect others, adding the outbreak at Granada Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Eureka — where at least 29 patients and one staffer have contracted the virus — could potentially cause the county’s death rate to spike.
“We all know about Granada, and that could turn very quickly,” he said. “So we could go from zero deaths in the last several months to doubling our death rate, easily, in the next week or two. … These are the most vulnerable people in our society. They served us well throughout their entire lives. And now they are at the highest risk. So we want to protect those people.”
“Not wearing a mask — it’s like putting a death sentence on some elderly folks who are in long-term care facilities, so we need to be cautious going forward because I think we can spare their lives.”
Hoffman noted it took 10 months for the county to reach the milestone of 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. It’s possible for the county to hit 2,000 within one month if the cases continue to increase as they have been in the past couple of weeks.
He urged the county to stay home and not travel for even small gatherings with families.
“Please, please don’t travel,” he said.
ICU update
Dr. Rober ta LuskinHawk, the chief executive overseeing St. Joseph Health in Humboldt County, spoke briefly to the board about what planning has gone into preparing the local hospitals for the coronavirus surge.
She said between St. Joseph, Redwood Memorial and Mad River Community hospitals, there are 28 ICU beds available for critical patients.
“This week we’re going to expand and add another six ICU beds at St. Joe’s for kind of an ICU step- down unit,” she said. “We can do this with existing staff. It’s a bit of a stretch but manageable.”
She added that in the past year, the hospital has hired more than 100 nurses. But she noted that with the surge across the country, it is harder to attract traveling staff.
“We have requested for travel nurses, so if they’re available, we will pay for them,” she said. “That’s not the problem. The problem is that every hospital in the country needs them, certainly many in the state.”
Luskin-hawk also added that there is an “adequate supply” of remdesivir to treat COVID-19 pa
tients and the hospital has a freezer that can hold vaccines that require temperatures of -80 degrees.
Law enforcement update
Supervisors questioned Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal on law enforcement’s response to the potential for more stay-athome orders locally and the need to enforce mask-wearing and compliance at local businesses.
“I think it’s actually foolish of some sheriff’s that make announcements like (a refusal to comply),” said 2nd District Supervisor Estelle Fennell. “That’s just political. … That’s just not where we need to be.”
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone agreed with Fennell.
“The thing is, you know, at one point, it might have seemed like choosing not to wear a mask was just sort of being rude or making a
political statement or whatever,” Madrone said. “But in all honesty, not wearing a mask is walking around with a deadly weapon.”
Honsal noted that during a recent incident in the Eureka Costco, a shopper refused to wear a mask and was cited by law enforcement.
He said it was up to deputies to make decisions based on each situation that arises. “It’s a balance,” Honsal said. “Every officer and every deputy uses discretion and that’s why I pay them to use discretion.”
He added that violence is escalating around the county, without specifically stating it was due to the coronavirus.
“We do have escalating crime that’s occurring throughout the county, all the way from Orick to Alderpoint,” he said. “So, you know, essentially we are spread thin, and we’re doing our best, and so we are going to continue to prior
itize calls. I have not made the statement that I’m not enforcing any stay-at-home order or those kind of things. I am going to take everything seriously.”
Honsal also took the opportunity to call out Gov. Gavin Newsom for what he perceived as a lack of clear messaging to the law enforcement community.
“The one thing that I think we can all agree on is the lack of communication, the lack of coordination in the governor’s office, down to law enforcement,” Honsal said. “The governor has not weighed in or kept us in the loop on these kind of issues. And so we urge the governor to actually work with the state sheriffs, to work with law enforcement to … manage this.”
He added “a lot of this frustration is born because the government doesn’t fully explain. We learn about (new rules) 15 minutes before a conference call.”
Public comments
Several members of the public weighed in on seeking more information in the county dashboards. One critical ask was for the number of current patients hospitalized to be included in the daily data.
Hof fman noted that there are some privacy concerns in releasing information on patients. Data on patient hospitalizations is available on the state COVID-19 website and is broken down by county.
One caller took issue with comparisons of not wearing masks to being a death sentence.
“Your breath is not a deadly weapon,” said Arcata resident Uri Driscoll.
Near the end of the COVID-19 update, Fennell reminded the board and viewers that the impact of the virus is very real.
“People need to understand this is not just fading away when you are old,” she said.