Posted By Kimberly Wear@kimberly_wear on Fri, Mar 12, 2021 at 1:18 PM Humboldt County Public Health reported 14 new COVID-19 cases today, making 69 so far this week. Today's cases were reported after laboratories processed 343 samples with a test-positivity rate of 4 percent, bringing the county's case count to 3,349. The California Department of Public Health announced today that a benchmark of distributing some 2 million vaccine doses in underserved areas of the state has been met and the threshold for when counties are moved into the most restrictive COVID-19 risk tier has been revised. According to the county's release, public health officials have "expressed cautious optimism" about Humboldt's ability to not only remain in the red tier but even find its way back down the COVID-19 risk ladder to reach the orange or yellow levels, if residents continue to practice safety measures, get tested and sign up to be vaccinated, when it's their turn.