Humboldt County Public Health confirmed two new COVID-19 cases today, making nine this week and a total of 571 to date.

The county also reported that the state has clarified its guidance on political rallies and protests, making explicit that facial coverings are required at both.

County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich said in a press release that it's important for people to remember that the risk of COVID-19 transmission increases whenever people from different households are brought together.

"It is incredibly important that we work together to keep each other safe in every setting," she said. "Use of facial coverings, distancing and all of the prevention measures we have talked about have helped Humboldt County keep its positivity and case rates lower than most areas of the state."

Today's cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 271 samples, with a test positivity rate of 0.7 percent. To date, Humboldt County has seen 37 people hospitalized at some point in their COVID-19 care and 10 COVID-related deaths.

Humboldt County continues its stay in the "minimal" risk tier under the state's "Blueprint for a Safer Economy," according to California Department of Public Health data released Tuesday, with a positivity rate of 1.5 percent and an adjusted case rate of 2.8 per 100,000 residents.

Earlier this week, health officials reminded residents that "two consecutive weeks of a case rate greater than 2.0 would move the county fully into the orange tier."

Meanwhile, the state has an overall test positivity rate of 3.2 and case rate of 7.2 per 100,000 in population.

Nationally, more than 9 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed — including 537,501 over the past seven days — with 228,100 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Statewide, 916,918 cases have been confirmed with 17,571 deaths, according to California Department of Public Health.

Right now, under the lower risk category, most indoor businesses — including bars — can reopen but the county can put further restrictions in place, according to the state. Read more about what it means here.

The Humboldt County Data Dashboard was recently updated to include hospitalization rates by age group, death rates by age group and case totals by ZIP code, the latter of which are reported in "a range of 0 to 5 for case count until the area surpasses 5 total cases," according to a county news release.

After that threshold has been reached in a ZIP code, the exact number will be included.



Basics of COVID-19

The California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control, state that symptoms of novel coronavirus include cough and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, or at least two of the following: fever, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or a new loss of taste or smell.

Emergency warning signs needing immediate medical attention include difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion or inability to awaken, and bluish lips or face.

In an emergency situation:

Call ahead to the emergency room or inform the 911 operator of the possibility of a COVID-19 infection and, if possible, put on a face mask.

Symptoms or possible exposure:

In the case of a possible exposure with symptoms — fever and cough or shortness of breath — contact your doctor’s office or the county Department of Health and Human Services, which has a hotline that can be reached during business hours at [email protected] or at (707) 441-5000. Residents seeking medical advice or questions about testing are asked to contact Public Health at [email protected] or at (707) 445-6200.

St. Joseph Health has also set up a virtual assessment tool as an aid to assess risk factors for contracting the illness, which can be found at here.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has started a rumor-control webpage that can be found here.

For the Journal's latest COVID stories, updates and information resources, click here.

See the county's full press release copied below: