COVID-19: 3 more deaths reported in Mendocino County

Dr. Coren to re-evaluate need for mask mandate next week

Mendocino County Public Health officials reported this week that three more residents have died recently from COVID-19, and that the continued need for a mask mandate will be re-evaluated next week.

“We can clearly see a great fall (in COVID-19 case rates) from the Omicron surge in the state as well as Mendocino County,” said Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren during his latest public update Friday, describing the case rate as falling to 27 new cases per 100,000 residents per day. “We’re getting very close to our pre-Omicron, and our pre-Delta, surge rates, and that’s very important.”

Coren said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have listed Mendocino County’s COVID-19 transmission rate as “high” since it is above 14 new cases per 100,000 residents per day.

“The goal for us is to have less than 14 per day, which would put us in a “substantial” risk category,” he said, explaining that “moderate” transmission rate is less than seven, and “low” is less than 1.5. “I’m projecting that there maybe a fall down to the range of 18 by next week. We’ve been seeing 30-percent drops almost every week for a few weeks.”

As of Thursday, Coren said there were 10 people hospitalized for COVID in the county, adding that there were two other hospitalized people who “incidentally” tested positive who were not represented in that number.

As for the number of beds available Thursday night, Coren said “we had one staffed ICU bed available, and we only had four med-surge beds available.” Coren said the lingering strain on local hospitals and other medical providers is “one of the reasons why we’ve maintained our universal masking (mandate) here in Mendocino County.”

Coren said he would reevaluate the need to continue requiring masks to be worn indoors next week, “and I can’t tell you yet if I will be dropping it yet.”

Also Friday, Coren said that three more county residents had died recently from the virus for a total of 123. No further details about the patients were provided.

In response to questions regarding whether the county was including people who died from reasons other than COVID-19 in these announcements, Coren said there had been a person who “passed away that was expected for other reasons, and tested positive for COVID,

“We can clearly see a great fall (in COVID-19 case rates) from the Omicron surge in the state as well as Mendocino County. We’re getting very close to our preOmicron, and our pre-Delta, surge rates, and that’s very important.” — Dr. Andy Coren, Mendocino County’s Public Health Officer

and we took that person out of these numbers, in an effort to make these as clear as possible.”

As for outbreaks, Coren said “there have been three recently in the county,” including a large one at the Mendocino County Jail, which he said was now resolved.

“I just met with staff at the jail today, and they have not had any new positives from within the jail over the past two weeks,” he said.