Monday, August 10, 2020
Seven New COVID-19 Cases Since Friday
Posted By Kimberly Wear @kimberly_wear on Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 5:20 PM
Public Health reported seven confirmed COVID-19 cases today, bringing Humboldt County's total to date to 286 after three previously recorded results from an outside lab were later found to be false positives and removed from the region's count.
"We are committed to reporting data accurately and want our community to have confidence that case counts are accurate and that if an error occurs anywhere in the process, it will be corrected,” County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich said in a news release.
A rapid rise in cases this month prompted public health to raise the "Effectiveness of Disease Control" to level three on the county’s Alert Level Assessment Tool but the county's overall COVID alert level — which runs on a scale of 1 to 4 — remains at 3. Level 3 is described as: "High risk — many cases with conditions for community spread, with many undetected cases likely. Limit everyday activities to increase safety."
To date, the county has seen 19 hospitalizations and four fatalities, all of them residents at Alder Bay Assisted Living. Today's results include 1,139 new test and 233 of county's the cases are considered recovered.
Humboldt County Public Health is urging residents who aren't experiencing symptoms to get tested free of charge at the mobile testing site at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. (People experiencing symptoms should contact a healthcare provider, officials say.) Asymptomatic individuals can make an appointment to be tested by visiting https://Lhi.care/covidtesting or calling (888) 634-1123. Tests will be administered free of charge, whether or not people have health insurance.
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.
Read the county's release below and view its case dashboard here:
"We are committed to reporting data accurately and want our community to have confidence that case counts are accurate and that if an error occurs anywhere in the process, it will be corrected,” County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich said in a news release.
A rapid rise in cases this month prompted public health to raise the "Effectiveness of Disease Control" to level three on the county’s Alert Level Assessment Tool but the county's overall COVID alert level — which runs on a scale of 1 to 4 — remains at 3. Level 3 is described as: "High risk — many cases with conditions for community spread, with many undetected cases likely. Limit everyday activities to increase safety."
Humboldt County has seen 53 new confirmed infections in the first 10 days of August, on the way to eclipsing July's record high of 100.
To date, the county has seen 19 hospitalizations and four fatalities, all of them residents at Alder Bay Assisted Living. Today's results include 1,139 new test and 233 of county's the cases are considered recovered.
Humboldt County Public Health is urging residents who aren't experiencing symptoms to get tested free of charge at the mobile testing site at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. (People experiencing symptoms should contact a healthcare provider, officials say.) Asymptomatic individuals can make an appointment to be tested by visiting https://Lhi.care/covidtesting or calling (888) 634-1123. Tests will be administered free of charge, whether or not people have health insurance.
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.
Read the county's release below and view its case dashboard here:
Seven new cases of COVID-19 were recorded since Friday. Three previously reported cases tested at an outside laboratory were determined to be false positives and have been removed from the overall case count.
This means that Humboldt County’s total number of residents confirmed to have contracted the virus has increased by four and now stands at 286. Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich said that the outside lab discovered a problem with an entire specimen run and did repeat testing on the specimens that had been reported out as positive. This repeat testing yielded negative results.
Two of the three individuals requested an additional round of testing at our local Public Health Laboratory, which again affirmed the negative results.
“We are committed to reporting data accurately and want our community to have confidence that case counts are accurate and that if an error occurs anywhere in the process, it will be corrected,” Dr. Frankovich said.
Today’s alert level stands at three or level orange. Visit humboldtgov.org/dashboard to view the county’s Alert Level Assessment tool. For the most recent COVID-19 information, visit cdc.gov or cdph.ca.gov. Local information is available at humboldtgov.org or during business hours by contacting [email protected] or calling 707-441-5000.
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About The Author
Kimberly Wear
Bio:
Kimberly Wear is the assistant editor of the North Coast Journal.
Kimberly Wear is the assistant editor of the North Coast Journal.
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