Wednesday, December 4, 2024

And Then There Was One—Mask Mandates Ease Across California’s Rural Northwest Except in Mendocino County

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Doctor Anthony Fauci told the Financial Times on Tuesday that the United States is heading out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19 and described pandemic protocols in the upcoming month as being increasingly “made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated.”

This local control is coming to fruition in the Golden State as California’s indoor masking requirements will be allowed to lapse state-wide next Tuesday, February 15, 2022. Rather than all residents being required to wear masks indoors, all vaccinated residents can remain unmasked indoors, while the unvaccinated are mandated to still be masked. Universal indoor masking will continue in places like schools.

California’s rescinding of the indoor mask mandate goes against the grain of the Center for Disease Control’s Director Doctor Rochelle P. Walensky, who told Reuters, “We have and continue to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission – that is essentially everywhere in the country in public indoor settings,”.”

While California goes forward with its change in state-wide policy, the state still holds space for counties to assess the conditions within their borders and determine whether the indoor masking requirement should remain in place.

Over the last few days, the dominos have fallen across Californian’s rural northwest. One county after another has announced that their indoor mask mandate would be allowed to lapse along with the states. All counties except one, Mendocino County.

When we spoke to Mendocino County’s Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren on Tuesday about retaining the indoor mask mandate, he told us rescinding it would be “inviting problems.”

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He pointed towards not seeing enough “descent in hospitalization/ICU admissions yet” and the occurrence of “many days with zero staffed, available ICU beds OR hospital med-surge beds.”

Dr. Coren said the primary issue driving his concern about local hospitals is their capacity and the fact “our Mendocino hospitals are full with 0-1 ICU and 0-1 general admission beds available most days in the last 1-2 weeks.” 

This limited capacity, Dr. Coren said, has meant “our facilities have had to postpone care to many who need hospitalization and even transport out of county local patients with emergency problems, such as surgery.” 

The resulting delays and emergency transports “add to the risk of poor outcomes for people in our community.” Consideration of local stressors such as hospital capacity “is why we have local health departments, and why the state defers to our independent judgment.”

For another lens to look at Mendocino County’s COVID-19 hospitalization concerns, CalMatters.org has curated a map of the state that identifies the total number of confirmed hospitalized COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people. We have collected the data describing that metric through California rural Northwest and found Mendocino County hardly ranks as the county with the most hospitalized, yet remains the only county maintaining the indoor masking requirement.

Total number of confirmed hospitalized COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people.
Colusa4.62
Glenn10.7
Sonoma13.2
Napa14.3
Humboldt16.9
Mendocino19.4
Siskiyou27.4
Del Norte28.7
Lake29.5
Tehama31.3
Shasta43.9
TrinityNA

There are multiple counties with higher rates of hospitalized COVID-19 patients than Mendocino County including Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, Lake, and Del Norte Counties. Also noteworthy is the fact that Mendocino County’s hospital capacity is larger than these counties as well.

A map created by CalMatters.org using a color-coding system representing the total number of confirmed hospitalized COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people provides a visual reference to Mendocino County hospitals as compared to the rest of the region. Mendocino County’s rate sits higher than counties like Sonoma, Humboldt, and Napa.

Dr. Coren’s utilization of hospitalization capacity as a key metric in deciding when Mendocino County will rescind the mask mandate reflects the realities of rural healthcare. Multiple nearby counties have eased the masked mandates while maintaining higher hospitalization rates.

A formal press release issued by Mendocino County Public Health this afternoon is the first official announcement of the county’s continuance of the indoor masking requirement:

Mendocino County Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren continues to order masking in most indoor settings due to current COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers, effective February 15, 2022.

“We will continue to assess the COVID-19 situation as it evolves and will reevaluate the need for continued universal masking orders on March 15, 2022, based on community transmission and burden to the local hospital system. For now, continued masking will protect our residents as we continue to be at the highest CDC risk level,” explained Dr. Coren.

For more details, please see the attached press release. You can also read the full Health Order at Health Orders | Mendocino County, CA

Thank you,
Public Health Media
1120 S. Dora Street
Ukiah, CA  95482
(707) 472-2759

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Cash grab:

    (Stick to our drugs and you’ll get a bonus)
    https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cms-hikes-payment-for-covid-19-19452/
    CMS said Oct. 28 that Medicare will pay hospitals extra when they treat inpatients with drugs or biologicals approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for COVID-19. The additional payments are linked to the 20% bonus hospitals already receive for COVID-19 MS-DRGs, and both require proof of a positive COVID-19 test, according to the fourth interim final rule with comment period (IFC).[1] CMS also raised the specter of post-payment reviews.

    (Inflate your prices and get Federally reimbursed)
    https://khn.org/news/article/covid-testing-has-turned-into-a-financial-windfall-for-hospitals-and-other-providers/
    Hospitals are charging up to $650 for a simple, molecular covid test that costs $50 or less to run, according to Medicare claims analyzed for KHN by Hospital Pricing Specialists (HPS). Charges by large health systems range from $20 to $1,419 per test, a new national survey by KFF shows. And some free-standing emergency rooms are charging more than $1,000 per test.

    ($50k for each patient who gets tagged as a COVID case.)
    https://www.aha.org/special-bulletin/2020-07-17-hhs-announces-additional-distribution-funds-hospitals-high-covid-19
    On June 8, HHS asked hospitals to submit data on their COVID-19 positive-inpatient admissions from January 1, through June 10. Using those data, HHS will distribute funds to hospitals with more than 161 COVID-19 admissions during this time period, which equates to one admission per day. It also will distribute funds to those hospitals that experienced a disproportionate intensity of COVID admissions (those that exceeded the average ratio of COVID admissions/bed). Hospitals will be paid $50,000 per eligible admission.

    More tests/cases = More reimbursements

    • Lifting mask mandates in Mendocino County to allow citizens to breathe unrestricted fresh air would DECREASE pathogen-friendly high C02 levels in residents’ lungs, which would decrease illness and improve health. Why is our Public Health Officer refusing to acknowledge the hundreds of studies that show masking is ineffective in preventing spread and dangerous to the mask wearers? This PHO required masking of our school children in triple-digit heat at the beginning of the school year and the oppression and abuse of our public school children continues. Our children’s right to breathe unrestricted should not be determined by Andrew Coren’s fears. Mandates to submit to EUA testing kits and EUA mRNA vaccines are felonies under the Patriot Act, as explained by Dr. David Martin: https://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2022/02/dr-david-martin-and-the-5th-circuit-court-final-order-awesome-language-from-the-court-3766832.html

    • I’m leaving this comment regarding the flippant manner that Carmel Angelo and Dr. Coren reacted to the protest in front of Dr. Corin’s home. Carmel Angelo has defied the Board of Supervisors for years. The elected officials are useless and repeatedly give their power to unelected bureaucrats. Anne Molgaard was a total disaster as a leader at HHSA and Child Support. She knows nothing about public health, I assure you. Nobody in this county is accountable to the people. This is why the citizens have to put up with nonsense like masks when everyone else can return to living their lives.

  2. It is not at all unusual for hospital to be full during flu season. It is therefore an unreliable metric for gauging the risk associated covid transmission. If the PHO is saying he wants hospitals to reserve rooms for new covid cases, then he is denying healthcare to those who need it on the basis of what might be.

    Remember Dr. Robert Redford? He was the head of the CDC when covid became a thing. This is his current view on wearing masks and especially children wearing them. From a recent interview:

    “Redfield began his interview with anchor Martha MacCallum by openly disagreeing with the CDC’s refusal to shift its mask guidance in the wake of declining OMICRON cases.

    “I don’t agree with that,” he said. “It’s not so much where it is in the larger community but what is it in the setting that you’re in. With the debate about schools, schools have always been a very low transmission zone for Covid. I think this is what many people are realizing, that the risk of transmission acquisition within the school setting is extremely low, even if one is in a community where there’s significant transmission. The risk for students has always been not the schools. It’s been the community in which they live, the dinner table in which they have dinner at.”

    Andy Coren. Your office is calling.

    • CDC study finds about 78% of people hospitalized for Covid were overweight or obese

      “Among 148,494 adults who received a Covid-19 diagnosis during an emergency department or inpatient visit at 238 U.S. hospitals from March to December, 71,491 were hospitalized. Of those who were admitted, 27.8% were overweight and 50.2% were obese, according to the CDC report. Overweight is defined as having a body mass index of 25 or more, while obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or more.”

      https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/covid-cdc-study-finds-roughly-78percent-of-people-hospitalized-were-overweight-or-obese.html

      Time to tell the public to do their part and put down the doughnut and get some exercise for the hospital’s sake.

      • I’m super fat right now. Put on an extra 40 lbs during the plandemic! I can’t breathe been Dx’d with bronchitis copd emphysema and was out of my daily inhaler for 1WEEK when I went to UVMC asking for a breathing treatment and a .25 Ativan for my fear attack and I got neither. And nothing else but I’m still here. Who knows if I will be tomorrow or next week but I’m here now. Not all fat people get admitted to the hospital because they’re fat or because I have comorbidities

  3. Lifting mask mandates in Mendocino County to allow citizens to breathe unrestricted fresh air would DECREASE pathogen-friendly high C02 levels in residents’ lungs, which would decrease illness and improve health. Why is our Public Health Officer refusing to acknowledge the hundreds of studies that show masking is ineffective in preventing spread and dangerous to the mask wearers? This PHO required masking of our school children in triple-digit heat at the beginning of the school year and the oppression and abuse of our public school children continues. Our children’s right to breathe unrestricted should not be determined by Andrew Coren’s fears. Mandates to submit to EUA testing kits and EUA mRNA vaccines are felonies under the Patriot Act, as explained by Dr. David Martin: https://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2022/02/dr-david-martin-and-the-5th-circuit-court-final-order-awesome-language-from-the-court-3766832.html

  4. I’ve got a Glock and ski mask and I need cash now
    Covid left me bankrupt, give me all the cash now
    If you throw in a dye pack you will die right now
    Socially distant six feet under the ground
    Douglas Wayne Coulter
    Crime is up, suicide is way up, media is gagged and hospitals are not treating other illness.
    Covid is where all the money is
    Everyone is driving like maniacs. The side effects of lock down are killing more than the virus

  5. Medical professionals are unwilling to let their power diminish. Never have they had so many listeners to the inconsistent b.s. they spew incessantly. Shut up and leave personal lives alone. Mask up if you want but for me a fully vaccinated person no more masks or directions. Go find another crisis you can totally screw up.

  6. Two years of everyone hiding from germs has lowered immune system. This may be a major flu/cold season. Germs keep us strong, bleach keeps us weak. Isolation and depresion are killers

  7. Covid isolation protocol is the Zyklon B of America’s Finial Solution
    The future is simply the past dressed in drag
    I dread the virtues of narcissists
    Dogma is delusion in a tuxedo
    Insanity is the preschool of prophets
    Psychiatrist bottle feed a generation of narcissists

    • Can a finial be in a solution? I mean I guess it could but why would. Poor Mendo County. Literally, poor Mendo. Hope gentrification and education reaches you all eventually.

  8. This is what happens when you grant authority to mediocre people like Dr. Corey. You end up with a mediocre authoritarian. Be advised BOS for Mendocino County, the only way you will keep my vote is by getting rid of this Medicare Dr. Corey.

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Matt LaFever
Matt LaFeverhttps://mendofever.com/
For the past seven years, Matt LaFever has covered the North Coast of California in both print and radio news. A Humboldt State graduate, he has lived in the Emerald Triangle for nearly 20 years. His reporting spans local issues like crime and wildfires. When not writing, Matt is an avid outdoorsman, exploring Northern California’s rugged landscapes. Reach out to him at matthewplafever@gmail.com.

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