LoCO Staff /
Today
@ 4:52 p.m. /
COVID-19 and Humboldt
Having Received Word of Upcoming Weddings, Joint Information Center Reminds Everyone That Large Gatherings Outside the Home are Still Not Permitted
From the Humboldt County Joint Information Center:
Since
March 20 of this year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and both
State and Local Health Officer Orders, gatherings of individuals
outside of the household unit have not been permitted. In spite of
this, numerous individuals identifying themselves as invited wedding
guests have contacted the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office of
Emergency Services to voice their concerns about two ceremonies in
particular scheduled for the next two weekends, one in Petrolia and
one in Ferndale.These
reports were received via the Joint Information Center’s Community
Information Line, with additional reports made through the COVID
Compliance Line. In response to both, and under the direction of the
Emergency Operations Center, code enforcement officers reached out to
family members to remind them that holding these gatherings is both
illegal and dangerous.As
noted by Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich, “We
all understand the desire to celebrate occasions such as weddings
with family and friends. However, just as high school seniors had to
sacrifice traditional graduation ceremonies, these types of large
gatherings simply cannot occur. We are in a pandemic and the
potential for not only a large number of guests to become infected
but for these individuals to then expose many more people in our
community, is enormous. There is simply no way for Public Health to
conduct timely contact investigations and limit disease spread when
hundreds of people are exposed at one time.”Law
enforcement is aware and will be reaching out to the individuals
involved, and enforcement action will be taken if these events
proceed. Frankovich added, “I am hopeful that civic-minded
residents of Humboldt will reconsider offering and attending such
events until it is possible to hold them without violating the law
and endangering the safety of the guests and the residents of
Humboldt County.”
