The Humboldt County Joint Information Center (JIC) sent out a pair of videos Monday afternoon following the staggering count of 113 new cases and one new fatality reported since Friday. 

In one, Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman discusses the local vaccine rollout, noting that doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been doled out to four hospitals. 

The rollout will be done in three phases, each of which has three tiers, Hoffman says. We’re currently in phase 1-A, in which doses are administered to hospital workers, especially front-line workers, as well as staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities, emergency medical personnel and dialysis workers.

“We recognize there are a lot of challenges still,” Hoffman says.

In the other video, below, Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services Public Health Branch Director Michele Stephens addresses “the extraordinary amount of cases” that the county has seen over the past several weeks. “They are not Granada-driven,” she says in reference to the outbreak in a Eureka skilled nursing home.

Stephens says behavior over the Thanksgiving holiday is likely responsible for this spike. “And with the Christmas holiday this week, we really want to implore everyone to not gather with loved ones that are outside of your household.”