LOCAL CASES ‘STILL NOT NEAR PRE-SURGE LEVELS’
As local cases of COVID-19 continue to trend downward, Humboldt County Public Health officials caution that the county has not returned to pre-surge levels of the virus.
“While we have seen a downward trend over the past several weeks, we are still seeing high levels of community transmission and the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Data Tracker reflects this as well,” according to a report from Humboldt County Public Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman. “While there is a lot to be optimistic about, given our community’s efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, we are still not near pre-surge levels.”
The report to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors noted that unvaccinated individuals continue to account for the majority of new cases and hospitalizations.
The Pfizer vaccine was recently authorized for people age 5 and older by the Food and Drug Administration and is recommended for children in this age group.
“For more information or to schedule an appointment, parents should contact their child’s health care provider or local pharmacy,” the report stated. “Given that this population so recently became eligible, we will provide an update on how many are getting vaccinated as the data becomes readily available.”
The report added that Merck recently applied to the FDA for emergency use authorization of the new pill, molnupiravir.
“The company is reporting that this new drug treatment cuts the risk of hospitalization and death by half, for patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19,” according to the report. “We continue to see great advancements in medicine to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. We are grateful for these efforts.”
The county’s new masking order went into effect last week, removing the public outdoor mask requirement for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. However, the county still “strongly recommend(s) mask use in all crowded outdoor spaces when (the) CDC Data Tracker website has our county listed as ‘high/ red’ or ‘substantial/orange’ community transmission.”
The county also established metrics for the removal of certain indoor mask requirements in locations “with stable cohorts of fully vaccinated individuals,” such as “indoor offices, gyms, fitness centers, employee commuter vehicles, religious gatherings, college classes, and other organized gatherings of individ
uals who meet regularly” once 70% of the county’s population is fully vaccinated, according to the order.
According to the county’s COVID-19 Dashboard, 59.03% of the local population is fully vaccinated as of Nov. 15.
The county relaxed quarantining directives as well.
“While the 14-day quarantine is still the safest option, under the new quarantine guidance, unvaccinated individuals who are a close contact of a COVID-19 case who don’t have or develop any symptoms have the option to end their quarantine after seven days from their exposure if they receive a negative result from a test taken on day five or later,” according to the report.
The Board of Supervisors will receive the report during the board’s regular meeting on Tuesday. The agenda item appears on the board’s consent calendar and will likely be passed in a single motion unless pulled for further discussion.
The meeting can be viewed online at humboldt. legistar.com.