COMMUNITY URGED TO SIGN UP FOR A VACCINE
Humboldt County likely to stay in red tier for next two weeks
During an update on the local conditions surrounding COVID-19, Humboldt County Public Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman told the Board of Supervisors the county’s metrics have remained stable, but we will stay in the red tier for another two weeks.
Humboldt County is currently assigned to the red or “substantial” tier under the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, with an adjusted case rate of 5.3 per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 2.3%. At this time, the threshold to move from red to orange requires both an adjusted case rate between 1 and 3.9 per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 4.9% or lower, according to the California Department of Public Health.
“We probably will be in the red tier for another couple of weeks at least given where the numbers are at currently,” Hoffman said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We’ll continue to focus on slow reopening. We should be on track to orange metrics sometime in April as long as we remain cautious.”
Public Health recently re
moved the ICU metric from its COVID-19 dashboard as cases continue to drop across the county.
“We’re really in a different place in the pandemic right now, so we don’t feel that information is needed any longer,” Hoffman said. “Despite the (reduction in cases), we still have seen deaths in the past few weeks from COVID-19, some people in their 50s have died. Our hearts go out to those families, friends and caregivers of all the loved ones who have been lost to COVID-19.”
Over the last month, Hoffman reported a significant drop-off in testing across the state but said testing rates are beginning to tick back up locally.
“We’re encouraged by that and we want to continue to encourage everyone to keep getting tested. Especially as we open up society more in the coming months, it’s really important that we keep tabs on the virus,” he said.
Humboldt County has seen a “slight increase” in the number of vaccines being distributed to the county “with the average number now over 5,000 for the last two weeks,” Hoffman said.
“This is in line with what the federal government has been promising and we’re expecting that this availability will continue to increase through April and into May,” he said, adding that the supply could grow even larger with the addition of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Humboldt County remains in Phase 1B of the vaccination rollout which includes people aged 65 years and older, emergency responders and people who have not been vaccinated under Phase 1A, educators, as well as food and agricultural workers. Hoffman said the county hopes to begin vaccinating people between 16 and 64 years who have qualifying medical conditions in the coming weeks.
“However, it’s very important to recognize that due to limited supply of the vaccine, not all of these groups are going to be able to get vaccinated immediately,” Hoffman said. “We continue to ask for patience we try to move people through the line as the vaccine supply allows.”
Though Humboldt County is still using its online vaccine interest form, Hoffman encouraged community members to sign up for the vaccine through the state’s interest form at myturn.ca.gov.
First District Supervisor Rex Bohn asked whether or not the county could opt out of Blue Shield of California serving as its third-party administrator.
“We do not have a choice in this matter; this is a directive by the state,” Hoffman responded. “I think the question I have is what will it look like (since it won’t) look exactly the same in every county. … We’re not sure yet. They just seem very open to working with each town to meet the needs of that county.”
Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell and 4th District Supervisor Virginia Bass inquired about vaccine eligibility and people being vaccinated who are not necessarily next in line.
“I was on my doctor’s waitlist, I didn’t think it would go anywhere. … Let’s just say there was a clinic and they had a huge number of (leftover) vaccines,” Bass said. “I’ve been encouraging people to (get on a waitlist) if they haven’t already.”
“We definitely don’t want to put up barriers. If there is vaccine going unused, we do want to try to reach out to the populations that are eligible first but if those attempts are not getting those appointments filled then we should open up eligibility further,” Hoffman said. “At the end of the day, the ultimate is that no vaccine goes to waste.”