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For the first time since January, Humboldt returned to the red or “substantial” COVID-19 risk zone, meaning some businesses can reopen for indoor service, including restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and places of worship, at reduced capacity.

The state data shows the county with a test positive rate of 2.7 percent and a daily case rate of 6.3 per 100,000 compared to California overall, which has a 4.8 positivity rate and 15.2 cases per 100,000.

The new tier takes effect at midnight.

County Health Officer Ian Hoffman told the board of supervisors this morning that he was optimistic about where the county was headed and that the move to the red tier “is likely to stick.”

“We feel this is a much better position than we were in January when we made it into the red tier,” he said, noting that at the time case counts were very high overall and county just made it into the less restrictive tier by the smallest of margins.

Now, Hoffman said, those data sets are trending in a positive direction although hospitalizations rates are high overall, which may be because Humboldt is “still seeing the tail end of the surge.”