On Monday, November 22nd, the Del Norte County Department of Public Health issued an Order that amends the Order from November 3rd, 2021, requiring all individuals to wear face coverings when indoors in workplaces and public settings, as well as outdoor crowded public spaces and events, with limited exemptions.
Citing that recent statewide data demonstrates over 90% of tested samples in California are Delta variant, combined with the lifting of most restrictions from the State of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy being lifted in June, 2021, the average daily incident case rate of COVID-19 in Del Norte County has reportedly increased significantly to reach the “High Transmission” level of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Indicators for Levels of Community Transmission.
Even though transmission levels in Del Norte County have declined to Orange level or below for 4 consecutive weeks according to the Centers for Disease Control, respiratory diagnoses plus COVID-related admissions do not account for more than 50% of county-wide hospitalizations, and 55% of Del Norte County’s eligible population has been fully vaccinated as well. Beginning Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021, employers and businesses subject to the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards and/or the Cal/OSHA Aerosol Transmissible Diseases Standards are being advised to consult the applicable regulations for additional requirements.
This Order, which requires face coverings for all individuals in indoor settings and businesses other than the aforementioned exemptions, takes precedence over the more permissive Emergency Temporary Standards regarding employee face coverings.
Individuals actively engaged in youth sports including staff, officials, and student athletes, are now required to test once weekly with either PCR or antigen test. Regardless of vaccination status, record-keeping of all individuals tested including the type of test performed, and test results of all players, staff, and officials are to be made available to Del Norte Public Health on request.
According to data from the California Health and Human Services, a total of 57,086,595 doses of vaccine have been administered in the state, however, only a total of 25,370,105 individuals of the states 39,656,838 population has been vaccinated, leaving the state sitting at 75.5% of the state fully vaccinated.
Of that, 198,507 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 between the 8 week period of September 1st, 2021, and November 1st, 2021.
During that same 8 week period of time, Breakthrough cases, or cases of COVID-19 found in California of those fully vaccinated, totaled 92,936 individuals of the 198,507 total cases in the state, equaling 33% of all cases in the state of California being fully vaccinated.
