Word that a lot of the Moderna Vaccine had caused severe allergic reactions at a clinic in San Diego has put the state on pause for a moment in inoculations. The Mendocino Public Health Office says the county gave a shot to about 100 coast residents from the lot Sunday at Adventist Health. Now the hospital says they’re also pausing the administration of the vaccine even though none of their patients had an adverse reaction. The hospital says they’re in touch with the patients who got a shot and have not heard of any complications or severe reactions. The state ordered a pause on shots and Adventist says they’re following the state’s guidance. The hospital reports over 300,000 doses from that lot were distributed across the state with a very small percentage experiencing complications.
A quick power outage reported in Mendocino County. A bunch of people posted last night before 8 on social media, their lights clicked off, then on. The reports from Ukiah, Fort Bragg, Covelo, Redwood Valley, Willits, Brooktrails, Yorkville, and some in Lake County too. MendoFever reports PG&E’s monitoring technology didn’t pick up the electricity flickers and didn’t receive any reports of an outage.
A young man from Willits has been arrested after reports of a domestic battery incident with his girlfriend. Deputies say they got a call from an 18 year old woman reported an incident from a few days before. They say she had visible injuries to her face, caused by her live-in 19 year old boyfriend, Romeo Lopez. Deputies say the man punched the woman in the face and arrested him. He’s held on $25,000.00 bail.
Like the Public Health Officer has said, Sonoma County’s in the darkest period of the pandemic so far. The Press Democrat reports this month, which still has nearly 2 weeks more has been the County’s deadliest. Five more people died yesterday for a total of 47 this month and 239 overall since last March. The chair of the Board of Supervisors says the latest deaths show we have to do everything in our power to slow the spread of the virus. Before this, the biggest spike in deaths, were 43, but that was over an entire month of the summer. Deaths at skilled nursing or assisted living facilities are making up 64% of the total deaths, and elderly residents comprise 80% of all deaths.
A wildfire reported in the hills above Geyserville where forecasters reported wind gusts that had reached 85 mph. The Old Fire was reported last night before 10 off Big Geysers Road. The fire’s reportedly burned 10 acres so far but the wind was challenging firefighters. The National Weather Service reported one gust measured 94 mph, one of the strongest windstorms in the North Bay in years. There are no structures threatened so far. More firefighters are also being sent out close to the The Geysers geothermal fields. And PG&E representatives and others reported the utility’s power equipment was damaged by the winds but there were no planned power shut-offs.
A tiny corner of the state reported to be one where COVID’s not being taken seriously, still the police chief went and got his first shot of a COVID19 vaccine. The town of Corning hosted a vaccination clinic for the city’s firefighters and police officers. The Press Democrat reports there’s pandemic skepticism in rural Northern California. But still health officials in Northern Calif. aim to vaccinate nearly 700,000 people. There’s fear though that the vaccine is unsafe and serious pushback against public health orders. One doctor says there are anti-vaxxers or those who think the pandemic is a hoax or was going away after the presidential election. Some towns have restaurants open for indoor dining, maskless in Tehama County.
There have now been nearly 3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in Calif. The daily tally by Johns Hopkins University had Calif. crest over the milestone, but the state has it just under that number. We’re the first state to do so. 2 million cases were recorded by Dec. 24th, and the next million 3 weeks later. Almost a year after the first coronavirus case in the state. It took almost a year to hit one million cases, then 44 more days to get to 2 million. The only two states close to Calif., Texas with over 2 million and Florida with over 1.5 million. Calif. is also getting close to 34,000 deaths. The number of cases have been climbing since Halloween. The state is hopeful that mass vaccinations will finally slow the spread as a batch of the Moderna vaccine was reportedly causing a severe reaction in some recipients, so the inoculations are on pause for a moment.
A new grant program allowing nonprofits in Mendocino County to get money in their field. The so-called Field-of-Interest grants thru the Community Foundation for specific geographical areas too. There’s nearly $170,000 to distribute. The foundation has a COVID-19 Relief Program, focused on nonprofits. The grants will be from four different funds through the Non-Profit Relief Program, the Community Resiliency and Disaster Preparedness Fund, the Environmental Education & Conservation Fund, and the ReLeaf Tree Planting Fund. The Community Resiliency and Disaster Preparedness Fund has $100,000, the Environmental Education and Conservation Fund has $10,000, ReLeaf has $8,000, the Safety-Net Fund has $50,000. Application are available at http://www.communityfound.org. Questions go to Amy Lutz, grants administrator, at (707) 468-9882 x104.
The Scotts Valley Energy Company has won a grant to fight climate change. The company’s owned by the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians. They won the Tribal Government Challenge Planning Grant so they can come up with a bioenergy feasibility toolkit for other Tribes and businesses. They’ve won $248,000 from the California Energy Commission (CEC) in partnership with the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) to focus on Tribal governments and how Tribes help California reach its climate goals. The grants generally go between $215,000 to $250,000 and pay for clean energy projects, including energy storage, renewables, biomass, and community and energy resilience to climate impacts.
A woman from Willits has been arrested after a report by the victim his wife slapped him. Mendocino Deputies say the 48 year-old man said he and wife Shaniquea Bent-Middleton had an argument and she hit him in the face, then picked up a wooden stool and hit him with it. He put up his arm to block the stool, but she got him instead in the arm. Deputies say he had visible injuries and swelling on his arm so the woman was arrested and charged with domestic violence battery. She’s held on $25,000.00 bail.
Winds recorded at almost 100 mph in Sonoma County have caused widespread damage and shut down power to thousands. PG&E reports 6,500 people lost power after the damaging winds took down trees and knocked out electricity from east Santa Rosa to Monte Rio. Firefighters in Santa Rosa reportedly had multiple calls about trees and power lines down last night and this morning. One gust of wind even blew the roof off a car port at a mobile home park. Several small brush fires were also reported near where the massive Tubbs fire burned in 2017. The National Weather Service reported winds over 80 mph and even hitting over 90 mph in the Mayacamas Mountains. One PG&E weather station recorded a 97 mph wind gust. There’s still a wind advisory in effect until 6pm tonight.
A fire that broke out above Geyserville is now 60% contained. The Old Fire was reported at 10 acres last night, but this morning Cal Fire reported it was under 2 acres off Big Geysers Road east of Geyserville. They say even though winds were whipping fast in the area the flames were not spreading that fast and no structures were being threatened. PG&E reported some of their equipment in the area was damaged, but they had not planned power shutoffs there. They say even though wind gusts neared 100mph, humidity, rain and other factors led them not to shut off power to prevent their equipment from sparking wildfires.
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