Supervisors discuss vaccine, cannabis, social media

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors continued their nearly 10-hour virtual meeting well into the evening Tuesday, discussing the slow trickle of COVID-19 vaccines supplied to the county and the formation of a cannabis unit to detangle the current permitting process. An item also sparked discussion around the county’s social media policies and employees’ protection under the First Amendment.

Kicking off the marathon of a meeting, the board adopted the entirety of the consent calendar except for an item that creates a Public Safety Advisory Board. The item which was approved at the last meeting did not take into account Assembly Bill 1185, an authorization for the county to form a sheriff oversight board.

The board voted to table the item and work with county staff to implement AB 1185.

The health department is working to contain multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 within the county, according to Public Health Officer Dr. Andrew Coren, including 18 individuals at Mountain View Assisted Living and Memory Care in Ukiah, as well as the outbreak Mendocino County Jail, totaling 140 positive cases over the last few weeks.

Seven Fort Bragg restaurants have also been involved in an outbreak with 15 positive coronavirus cases over two weeks.

“There was a lot of non- compliance with our contact investigators,” Coren said. “That, in addition to this being a complex outbreak involving multiple institutions, the notice and recognition of this as one outbreak was not immediate.”

The county has administered over 11,000 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines since Jan. 29, according to Coren.