COVID-19: The pandemic that ate 2020
Editor’s note: According to readers at times- standard. com, these were the Top 10 Humboldt County news stories of 2020. Got something to say about this list? Let us know at letters@ times-standard.com.
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Humboldt County came very early in the pandemic. It was announced by the county’s health department on Feb. 20 With the amount of foreign travel by county residents, including travel to China, it is not surprising that a case has emerged locally,” a news release from the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services stated at the time. “Additional cases may occur either in returning travelers or their close contacts.”
By mid-March, worries about the scope of the pandemic were growing and local governments began issuing shelter-in-place orders.
On March 19, the county ordered residents to shelter. A state order from Gov. Gavin Newsom soon followed.
In the wake of the shelter- in- place order, local businesses expressed frustrations about not being able to operate.
By the end of March, local businesses reported losing more than $2.7 million in Humboldt County.
Cara Owings, executive director of the Humboldt County Workforce Devel
opment Board, told the Times- Standard that several businesses had closed at the time — some temporarily, others permanently.
“Most of the businesses that permanently closed were from Arcata, Eureka, Fortuna and Ferndale,” Owings wrote in an email to the Times- Standard. “One business was reported closed from Willow Creek.”
In the wake of the pandemic, many schools across the county closed classes and shifted to remote learning. As the months ticked by, some returned to in-person instruction or adapted a hybrid approach.
In April, St. Joseph Hospital announced it would be included in a remdesivir study. The drug was being studied as a treatment for severe cases of COVID-19.
“In my mind, this is the most potent, most hopeful drug we have right now,” Dr. Roberta Luskin-Hawk, an infectious disease specialist and chief executive of St. Joseph Health, Humboldt County said at the time. “That’s why I was anxious to get access. It reduces the viral load in patients. It really has antiviral activity against this particular virus. … Now we have to prove change in viral load means that outcomes will be better.”
In July, positive coronavirus cases in Humboldt County began to jump, but it took until early December for local cumulative total confirmed cases to cross the 1,000 mark.
Officials warned the surge in the wake of Thanksgiving and the holidays likely would have the county double that by January.
In September, the county’s top health official, Dr. Teresa Frankovich, announced her resignat ion. Frankovich had been named by the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 30 to what was then a part-time post; instead, she worked hundreds of hours of overtime leading Humboldt County’s pandemic response for most of the year. Her last day on the job was Dec. 1. A new health officer, Dr. Ian Hoffman, was named by the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 8.
By mid- December, nearly 1,000 doses of vaccine arrived in Humboldt County and before Christmas, the county’s four hospitals were inoculating front-line health care workers.
“I’m not normally an emotional guy, but it feels really good to finally see the end of this,” Redwood Memor ial emergency room nurse Ryan Samuelson told the Times- Standard. “There’s been a lot of hardship for a lot of people and it’s changed everyone’s lives. I’m happy to see the beginning of the end and kind of a return to normal.”
By Dec. 29, a total of 1,678 Humboldt County residents had tested positive for COVID-19, and 20 had died. As 2020 comes to a close, the pandemic remains far from over.
“I think that the general idea here is that we can potentially obtain herd immunity whether that’s through natural infection, or whether through the vaccination,” Humboldt County Deputy Health Officer Josh Ennis said earlier this month. “And so we need to reach about 65 or 70% of people being immune to the disease all around the same time.”
“Most of the businesses that permanently closed were from Arcata, Eureka, Fortuna and Ferndale. One business was reported closed from Willow Creek.” — Cara Owings, executive director of the Humboldt County Workforce Development Board