The Mendocino County Public Health Dept. has a new Director. The Board of Supervisors unanimously recommended Public Health Transition Director, Anne Molgaard, be appointed as the Director of Public Health. She was then immediately appointed to the position by the CEO. The county touted her more than 30 years of experience in health and human services in the nonprofit and government sectors, working for agencies like First 5 Mendocino. Molgaard said she was excited to promote health and wellbeing for all Mendocino County residents.
Sonoma County reports the first death of a child from coronavirus. The county announced yesterday that a girl between 12 and 17 is the first child to die from the pandemic. They didn’t say much more about it. The Press Democrat reports the county said the girl had underlying health conditions, was in the hospital and not fully vaccinated. There were seven new COVID deaths this week in the county for a total now of 455. The newspaper reports January was the deadliest month for the virus since August.
Volunteers are needed for the Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care Point-in-Time count. They are starting the yearly unsheltered count for the state and federal government at sunset on February 23rd and it will go through the whole following week. The data used helps provide services to the unsheltered in the County.
If you would like to volunteer, please sign up at https://Mendocino22.PointInTime.info/. If you have questions or would like further information, please contact Veronica Wilson at hometeam@mendocinocounty.org or (707) 468-7071.
Reports on a police scanner of an armed robbery and a getaway, then a crash. Mendo Fever reports the incident happened in Clearlake last night about 5 pm. The CHP reports two people got away from the scene in a black BMW that was weaving in and out of lanes, almost crashing into oncoming traffic and rolling. Then two people jumped into a red SUV driven by a female. The news site also reports some drugs and or alcohol and stolen property may have been found in the crashed vehicle. Social media reports said it was several pounds of cannabis in plastic bags that were found in the vehicle and spread over the roadway.
Most Bay Area counties, except Santa Clara are allowing folks to go maskless in indoor settings. Santa Clara reported they will keep the mandate going so that cases of COVID19 can come down. The other counties will go maskless starting next Wednesday, February 16th. But the Santa Clara County Public Health Officer said there were still too many cases there for her to be okay with following the other counties. She did say cases were plateauing and that they had reached their vaccination metric, and that the metric for low and stable COVID-19 hospitalizations is close.
The Governor has signed a bill into law to reinstate sick pay for most Calif. workers who have to take time off for COVID-19 related illness or absence. Newsom made a public appearance at a restaurant in Oakland to tout the new policy which sort of extended one that ended last September. The sick leave policy says businesses who have at least 26 workers can take time off to recover from COVID-19, care for a sick family member, go to a vaccination appointment, take time off after an immunization or take care of a child who can’t go to school because of virus-related closures or quarantines.
A woman from Novato accused of crashing and killing two people from Clearlake has reported to court ahead of her sentencing. 22 year old Keilah Coyle was driving a Ford F-150 truck last spring and drifted over Highway 29 to the other side, hitting a GMC van head-on north of Middletown. 53 year old Cassandra Rolicheck and 47 year old Miguel Maciel Dominguez died at the scene of the crash. CHP officers said Coyle was driving under the influence, so she was arrested then. She pleaded no contest to Gross Vehicular Manslaughter with vessel while intoxicated and DUI with Alcohol while causing injury. Her Blood Alcohol Level (BAC) was nearly two times the legal limit, .15. She will be sentenced March 7th.
PG&E says just like other years, as there’s an increase in energy usage this time of year, costs go up for natural gas. The energy giant is blaming higher natural gas usage on lower outside temperatures and the need to crank up the heat. The company says heating systems, water heaters and washer and dryers account for more than 70% of winter energy use in the typical home. So they’re offering tips to consumers on ways to keep costs down, checking your air filters every three months, check your air ducts for leaks, holes or poor connections, lower the temp on your water heater, use cold water to wash clothes, and longer spin cycles.
Lake County is working to lower chronic absenteeism in schools. The Lake County Office of Education (LCOE) Attendance Liaisons have a new program, Communities for School Success. A former teacher at Terrace Middle School in Lakeport is running the program and has a staff of seven Attendance Liaisons who work with students to help them get back into school. Each of the Attendance Liaisons is assigned to a school. They say out of 675 K-12 Lake County students they contacted, 65 percent showed improvement in their attendance. The program is a partnership between the Lake County office of Education, and the Lake County school districts and is funded through a grant from the California Department of Education (CDE).
The Mendocino County Sheriff says there’s no truth to the rumors going around about a serial killer after several young women were found dead. Sheriff Matt Kendall says what is true is that there have been some drug overdoses and that Fentanyl is the real killer. The comments after two Mendocino County women’s bodies were found less than a week apart along Highway 101. 33 year old Amber Dillon of Willits and 22 year old Alyssa Mae Sawdey of Ukiah, both found last month about 25 miles apart. The Sheriff has not confirmed the two women died of overdosing as toxicology reports are not back on either of them.
A bill has been introduced in the state Assembly by member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry so that nursing homes stop the practice of using anti-psychotic drugs on patients. Aguiar-Curry introduced the bill because of the so-called “chemical restraints” in Calif. The Human Rights Watch reported about four years ago that the practice should be considered abuse, and it’s being used more and more. The drugs were first developed to help treat conditions like schizophrenia. Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry says the practice harkens back to the middle-ages.
