Saying that less than 10 percent of Covid
transmission occurs outdoors is akin to saying that sharks attack
fewer than 20,000 swimmers a year. (The actual worldwide number is
around 150.) It’s both true and deceiving.
— David
Leonhardt, The New York Times
###
I see them everyday, on
my 10,000-step brisk-walking exercise routine: masks! They’re
walking and running and cycling — wearing masks, prolonging the
mistaken notion that it’s unsafe to be outside without one.
I know, I just wrote
about this — actually 12 columns back, Exercise in the Time of
Covid, published here
on February 21 last. Somehow the message hasn’t gotten through to
many folks, and I think it’s sufficiently important to restate:
Assuming you’re not in someone else’s face, you don’t need
to mask up outside. You’re not doing yourself or anyone else
any favors. If anything, you’re discouraging people who would
otherwise be out there walking, running, exercising. Mainly though,
if we thought in terms of “masks inside, no masks outside,” we —
as a community — would be much more likely to wear them in stores
and other times when we’re around people) knowing that we can relax
and breathe freely as soon as we step into the outside air.
That was then. We know better now. (Barry Evans)
Trouble is, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention is still putting out alarmingly
conservative statements regarding outdoors transmission: “Less than
10 percent of documented transmission in many studies has occurred
outdoors,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on April 25.
So, is that “less
than 10 percent” like, nine percent? Five percent? In fact, the
actual number of outdoor transmissions is far less —
probably more like 0.1 percent, based on this
paper published on the medRχiv website. Here’s an
excerpt: “…out of a total of 1576 superspreading event entries,
1493 (94.7%) were classified as ‘Indoor,’ 63 were
‘Indoor/Outdoor,’ 4 were ‘Outdoor,’ and the remainder were
‘unknown.’”
So why is the CDC, with
its “less than 10%” statement, being so cautious about the really
remote possibility of outside transmission? It’s certainly correct
— it could have said, “less than 50%” and still be technically
correct — but by erring on this extreme side of caution, it’s
discouraging playground use, bike riding, running and plain walking —
just being outside! — by setting up this bogeyman of potentially
risky exercise and play in the fresh air.
Turns out, much of the
CDC supporting data came from a
study in which of 10,926 Covid cases, 95 were
classified as being outdoor infections, all from Singapore
construction sites. But that’s less than 1% — and anyway, what the
study classified as “outdoors” was largely inside the shell of a
skyscraper project. Meanwhile, an Irish
study put the “outdoor transmission” cases at
0.1%, while a Chinese study of 7,324 cases of Covid found that just
one of those was transmitted outdoors. (That’s 0.01%.)
Want more? Here’sThe New York Times’ David Leonhardt’s take on why
the CDC exaggerated the outdoors transmission risk.
I was going to end on a
rant, but it turns out Maine Senator Susan Collins did it for me,
addressing Dr. Walensky at a Senate
Hearing last week: “Here we have unnecessary
barriers to reopening schools, re-exaggerating the risk of outdoor
transmission, and unworkable restrictions on summer camps. Why does
this matter? It matters because it undermines public confidence in
your recommendations.”
Meanwhile, winter’s
not that far ahead: winter, the time of staying inside, with all the
dangers posed by a hugely contagious respiratory virus, especially
the new varieties. Please folks, if you’re not vaccinated, do it
for the rest of us, if not yourselves. Call 441-5000. Meanwhile,
Covid’s taken a toll on all of us, physically and mentally. Whether
or not you’ve had your shots, it’s time to take advantage of the
weather and get outside — maskless!
Post from the Fortuna Police Department’s Facebook page:
Fortuna Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance.
On
Friday, May, 14 2021 at approximately 6:34 pm Officers responded to the
area of Kenmar Road and S Fortuna Boulevard for the report of an
unknown traffic collision. The involved vehicle was reported to be on
its side with smoke coming from the engine compartment. Officers located
a black 2010 Chrysler van with out of state plates over an embankment
off of Kenmar Road. An injured adult female, believed to be the driver
and sole occupant of the vehicle was located on scene. Fire and
ambulance personnel provided emergency medical assistance to the adult
female. The adult female ultimately succumbed to her injuries on scene.
An injured canine was located during this investigation and was
transported to the Emergency Vet for medical treatment.
This
investigation is ongoing and the Fortuna Police Department is
requesting the public’s assistance. We are asking for anyone who
witnessed the collision to contact the Fortuna Police Department at
707-725-7550.
The name of the adult female driver will not be released at this time.
Mockup of the proposed facility by Nordic Aquafarms.
###
Is a massive land-based fish factory the best next
chapter for a former pulp mill nestled between Humboldt Bay and the
Pacific Ocean? Tune in to hear local environmental leaders discuss
Humboldt County’s assessment of the impacts Nordic AquaFarms proposed
fish factory might have on the bay, ocean, wildlife and climate –
and ways to avoid or mitigate them. Surfrider Foundation’s California
Policy Manager Jennifer Savage and Colin Fiske of Coalition for
Transportation Priorities join co-hosts Tom Wheeler of EPIC, Larry
Glass of NEC, and Jen Kalt of Humboldt Baykeeper for a discussion of
what is proposed and top issues of concern as we gear up to submit
comments on May 24.
Nordic
Aquafarms Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration:
As Lead Agency, Humboldt County released this environmental review
document for public review and comment. Comments are due May 24, and
a public hearing is on the County Planning Commission agenda for
Thursday, June 3 at 6pm.
John
Kennedy McGuire passed away on May 10, 2021 just shy of his 93rd
birthday in Eureka. He began his life’s journey in Glasgow,
Scotland on June 5, 1928. He was a British Army veteran who met his
wife Elizabeth after mustering out of the service. John apprenticed
as a Terrazzo mason and worked throughout Scotland and England before
emigrating to Vancouver, Canada in 1956 with Elizabeth (Betty) and
their two young sons, John and Jerry. The family, which now including
youngest son Stephen, moved to Eureka in 1960. John continued to work
in construction becoming an accomplished cement mason and building
contractor. Many of the exposed aggregate sidewalks in Old Town are
the work of John and his son Jerry. John also built all four of the
homes they have lived in with the exception of their first home.
In
1993, John and Betty retired to their lovely Willow Creek home that
John built and enjoyed family, friends, golf, gardening, and travel
for the next 30 years. They both loved golf and were members of the
Willow Creek Golf Club, enjoying many trips with golfing friends to
Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and California that were arranged by WCGC
members.
Having
lived a long life, John is preceded in death by his mother Mary
(Polly) and his father Phillip, his brothers Rankin, Phillip, James,
sister Phyliss, and many friends.
John
leaves behind his wife of 71 years, Elizabeth and his sons, John
(wife Melody), Jerry, Stephen (wife Sherry), grandchildren Jason,
Adam, Brittany, Jake, Stephen, and Katie, great-grandchildren, Maya,
Luke, Natalee, Avery, Lucy,
and brother Charlie along with nieces and nephews back in Scotland.
Our
family would like to give a special thanks to the staff at Frye’s
Care Home for their compassionate care in the last weeks of John’s
life.
There
will be no service at this time.
###
The obituary above was submitted on behalf of John McGuire’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.
Victorum Corporation executives (from left): Director of Development Acy Crawford, CEO Robert Marshall and President/VP of Operations Laurent Bensaid at the former Sierra Pacific Industries lumber mill off New Navy Base Road, just north of Manila.
###
On Monday morning, three executives from an Orange County-based company called Victorum Corporation offered a tour of a former Sierra Pacific Industries lumber mill property, a triangular, 70-acre industrial parcel nestled between the Ma-le’l Dunes and the Mad River Slough.
As the executives walked across the parcel’s vast expanses of asphalt on Monday they explained how, with $10 million they hope to raise from investors, they plan to transform the property into a state-of-the-art cannabis campus with up to eight acres of indoor and greenhouse cultivation, plus facilities for distribution, manufacturing and more.
CEO Robert Marshall, an affable man with a southern drawl, gestured toward a single-story outbuilding painted cobalt blue. “This is the office,”he said, “and it’s actually in really good shape and we’ll continue to use that.”
He swept his arm to the left, toward the acres of empty asphalt that once served as the mill’s log deck. “Basically, the whole project is going to be from here back,” he said. “It’s going to be a refurbishment and [we’ll] clean it up.”
Plan details remain scant. Humboldt Bay Co., a corporate entity under the Victorum umbrella, will be the project applicant, according to Acy Crawford, Victorum’s director of development. And while the company has yet to apply for licenses from the County of Humboldt or the state, Marshall said a master plan is imminent, and they’re committed to being in Humboldt County.
“Our goal was always to come in here and say, ‘You know what? Let’s come in here and let’s assimilate in the community and figure out what we do [with] the asset that we have,” he said. The cultivation will be done in greenhouses and indoor facilities with solar panels and LED lighting. Rainwater catchment will supply much of the irrigation, Marshall said, and stormwater will be channeled via six onsite pumps — installed in 1987 by Sierra Pacific — into a million-gallon retention pond on the property’s northeastern edge.
A 2020 presentation aimed at courting investors included a project timeline and a detailed site map, but Marshall said the information from that pitch, including projected revenue of $450 million by the end of 2021, is outdated.
“It’s been pushed back, certainly, but we feel really confident in the numbers and where we will eventually get,” he said.
“It’s one of the dioxin hotspots of Humboldt Bay, and any kind of ground disturbance at that site would be problematic,” said Jennifer Kalt, executive director of Humboldt Baykeeper. “But like many of these sites, as long as a redevelopment plan can be done in a way that’s protective of the slough, it’s better to clean it up than have water runoff with [those] dilapidated buildings.”
Marshall said that thanks to the monitoring required of Sierra Pacific, there’s no need to worry.“It’s probably one of the most studied pieces of land in all of California,” he said.
The property’s current owner, Jeff Meyer, told the Outpost that he sought out investors and he believes the Victorum crew is “a good group of guys” who want to give back to the community while bringing in a couple hundred jobs. Marshall, for his part, said he doesn’t yet know how many jobs will be created: “I don’t know if it’s 50, 100, 200. … I would love it to be 400, 800!”
What he wanted to stress was their commitment to the local community. As an example, he walked over to where the bridge crosses the slough and said the company would like to build a boat ramp and offer access to local kayakers. He also said they’d like to offer the community improved access to the dunes and forest north of the mill site.
“We’re local,” he said at several points during the tour. “If nothing else, I want you to portray us as: We are local and we’re here. No out-of-town, New Jersey money. I mean, if it comes from New Jersey, great, but we’re local people and we’re in this for the long haul.”
But do they actually live here?
“We’re moving here,” Marshall responded. “We spent 60 days here about three weeks ago. We’ll be here for another couple weeks and then we’ll buy a house and move here.”
Both Marshall and Crawford grew up in the South. Marshall owned a Smashburger franchise in the Atlanta, Georgia, area before moving into consulting and consumer research while Crawford managed a Spirit Halloween store in Tucson, Ariz., among other jobs, before coming to Victorum. This according to resumes published on LinkedIn. Bensaid, meanwhile, owned a Corvette business in Riverside for many years. It was once featured on a show called Cut, Chop, Rebuild. Bensaid told the Outpost that he got involved in the cannabis industry after seeking alternative treatment for his son’s Tourette’s syndrome.
Victorum owns and operates half a dozen other cannabis brands, including lines of hemp and CBD products.
“We’re all very skilled at either business or how cannabis works,” Marshall said. “On the business side we’ve got about 100 years of business experience, you know, various corporate experience. On the growing side we’ve got about another 100 years of expertise. And of course you kind of laugh because you’re like, ‘Well, it’s only been legal for five.’ … [But] we’ve got generational farm kids that grew up with growers from Southern Humboldt. They’ve been around it since they were children.”
The company plans to employ local cultivators, though Marshall said the project is not far enough along to connect the Outpost with any of them for interviews. But things are moving forward, and the executives expect progress to speed up once the necessary licenses are obtained. For example, he said, they’ll take ownership of the property from Meyer.
They hope to avoid some of the controversy that has accompanied Sun Valley Floral Farm’s proposals for a cannabis operation in the Arcata Bottoms. “If you notice, we don’t have any neighbors,” Marshall said, “so there’s no noise ordinance issue, no light issue, no smell issue.”
Still, he promised that the company plans to do everything in an environmentally responsible fashion, and they’d like to collaborate with locals in the industry, perhaps by offering processing and distribution services.
”And we’re going to employ people in the community; we’re going to give back to the community,” Marshall said. “We’re gonna pay lots of taxes to the community and we want to be a part of the community. And that’s why I keep stressing that we are local people we will be locals here.”
The City of Eureka will be performing street repaving work on 14th Street between G Street and P Street in
Eureka beginning on Monday, May 17. Multiple blocks on 14th Street will have road closures, with adjacent
side streets being closed to through traffic as well. This work will be performed between the hours of 7:00am
and 6:00pm, WEATHER PERMITTING.
There will be controlled traffic and detours at these locations, and motorists should plan accordingly.
The patience and cooperation of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians in the vicinity of the work zone is
greatly appreciated.
Press release from the Humboldt County Joint Information Center:
While the state reviews the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new masking guidance, all of California’s COVID-19 safety measures, including masking, remain in effect.
The CDC yesterday released interim recommendations, stating that fully vaccinated individuals do not have to wear facial coverings in most settings. However, the CDC outlines several exceptions, such as state law, that supersede its guidance.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced late last night that the state “is reviewing the new CDC guidance on masking requirements.” CDPH and CalOSHA continue to require masks be worn in all indoor public places and crowded outdoor settings. Updates to masking guidance will be shared as they become available.
