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PREVIOUSLY: Amidst Statewide Surge, Humboldt County Moved in to Second-Highest COVID Restriction Tier

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In a video released this afternoon by the county’s Joint Information Center, Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich addresses “the dramatic change in the COVID landscape” here in Humboldt County and across the state. 

There has been an unprecedented rise in new cases, with an accompanying rise in hospitalizations, Frankovich says, and the urgency led Governor Gavin Newsom to modify the state’s tier-based regulatory structure, which resulted in Humboldt’s status changing today from the “yellow” tier with the lowest restrictions to the “red” tier, indicating widespread infections.

The county’s case rate has climbed to 4.8 cases per 100,000. Restrictions that accompany the red tier will go into effect tomorrow. The county outlined many of those restrictions in a press release issued earlier today. 

Frankovich reminds people that indoor settings pose the highest risk, especially when people aren’t wearing masks. 

“I can tell you that a lot of our current cases are being driven by travel and by gatherings and the combination of travel and gatherings,” Frankovich says. “So I really want to be clear to people that if we want to be able to keep our schools operational, to keep our business community operational, we have to stop the gathering, and that’s a particularly difficult challenge at the holiday season, but it’s essential to protect our families and our community.”