A TIME TO REFLECT

Another Ukiah Valley resident has died from the Covid-19 virus, Mendocino County health officials reported this week.

Mendocino County Public Information Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Sarah Dukett said that the most recent death related to Covid-19 was a “71-year- old Hispanic man from the Ukiah Area who passed away while in the Intensive Care Unit at Adventist Health on Sunday morning, Dec. 27.” Dukett said his death marks the 26th “related to Covid-19 in Mendocino County.”

Monday evening, the Mendocino County Public Health Office reported 19 new cases of Covid-19 for a total of 2,425. Also Monday there were nine people hospitalized, with two in the ICU.

On Sunday, county officials reported that the ICU bed availability for the Northern California Region, which Mendocino County is included in, was 28.3 percent. When a region’s ICU bed availability falls below 15 percent, it triggers a stay-at-home order by the state of California. The Northern California region also includes: Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties.

The vast majority of cases in Mendocino County are described as patients from the Ukiah area (1,698), which includes Potter Valley and Redwood Valley, and 348 are from the North County Area, which includes Willits and Covelo. The North Coast, which includes Fort Bragg, has 227 cases, the South County, which includes Hopland and Anderson Valley, has 85, and the South Coast, which reported the first case in Mendocino County, has 67.

Females account for a slight majority of cases at 1,249 to 1,176 males with Covid-19, and people of Hispanic or Latino descent account for 1,350 of the cases reported so far, more than half at 55 percent.

Close contact with others is given as the reason for contracting the virus in the majority of cases (1,181), and 765 cases are attributed to Community Spread. Another 198 are attributed to work/out of county travel, while 281 cases are listed as “under investigation.”

GRAPHIC BY JOVANNA GARCIA Gone but not forgotten Across the world, 2020 was a year of extreme highs and lows — but no moments were so low as the repeated loss of friends and family to the Coronavirus pandemic. In Mendocino County alone, 26 people have died from the virus or from complications arising from it. That’s 26 men and women who were here to celebrate with us this time last year; 26 people who will not see the sun set on this year, and 26 who will not wake up to a brighter 2021. We honor their lives here with a white lily of peace for each; we will always honor their loss in our hearts. There will be more heartbreak to come before this plague is over, but the strength and love of our community will hold us fast to a happier tomorrow. From the staff at The Mendocino Beacon, we wish each of you joy in this new year — but we wish you health and safety above all.