Pandemic still in full force in Humboldt County

Humboldt County is one of the rural counties in the state that continues to be hit hard by the novel coronavirus and the highly contagious Omicron strain.
On Monday, Humboldt County Memorial Hospital/Humboldt County Public Health reported that between Jan. 4 – Jan. 14, 229 new positive cases of COVID-19 were reported in the county. That brings the total number of Humboldt County positive cases since the first reported case in the county on April 17, 2020, to 2,461. There have been 35 deaths.
Since June 14, 2021, when the Delta variant began spiking in the county, there have been 1,264 cases. Of those, 867 or 69 percent have been persons unvaccinated, and 397 persons or 31 percent have been fully vaccinated. A total of 840 new cases have been reported in just the past three months.
HCMH Chief Executive Officer Michelle Sleiter says the amount of patients being seen at the hospital and UnityPoint Clinic has been at a very high level.
She said it has put a strain hospital and clinic staff in caring for the many ill patients.