LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A number of local organizations have put together Halloween events for children and families that offer fun while following safety protocols to protect against COVID-19.

The following is a list of events planned around Lake County for Friday, Oct. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 31.

FRIDAY, OCT. 30

CLEARLAKE OAKS

Moose Lodge presents ‘Haunted Lodge’

The Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge No. 2283 will present “Haunted Lodge” from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

They invite community members to come and be scared.

The cost is $3 at the door. Tickets will be sold at the door.

They will practice COVID-19 safety measures.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

The lodge is located at 15910 Moose Lodge Lane, Clearlake Oaks.

LAKEPORT

Haunted Lake County

Haunted Lake County will offer a COVID-19 safe and scary drive-thru Halloween experience from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St.

From 5 to 6 p.m. is a less-scary hour for children.

The show for mature audiences takes place from 6 to 10 p.m.

The requested donation is $20 per vehicle, with proceeds to benefit the Lake County Fair Foundation.

SATURDAY, OCT. 31

CLEARLAKE

Halloween Trunk or Treat at Austin Park

Enjoy some spooky fun at the annual Trunk or Treat event in Austin Park from 4 to 6 p.m.

Event parking will be available in Haverty Field near Austin Park, 14077 Lakeshore Drive.

There will be decorated trunks, music and candy.

Masks and social distancing will be required.

The event takes place rain or shine.

CLEARLAKE OAKS

Community Halloween Trunk or Treat

The Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge No. 2284 will hold its third annual Community Halloween Trunk or Treat from 5 p.m. until the treats are gone.

The event will offer a safe place for community trick or treating. They will practice masking, hand sanitizing and social distancing for everyone’s safety.

There will be a best-decorated vehicle trunk contest.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase for to go or outside dining.

The lodge is located at 15910 Moose Lodge Lane, Clearlake Oaks.

Moose Lodge presents ‘Haunted Lodge’

The Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge No. 2283 will present “Haunted Lodge” from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

They invite community members to come and be scared.

The cost is $3 at the door. Tickets will be sold at the door.

They will practice COVID-19 safety measures.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

The lodge is located at 15910 Moose Lodge Lane, Clearlake Oaks.

Haunted drive-thru

Marcel’s Drive-Thru will host a haunted drive-thru beginning at 7 p.m.

They will be handing out candy bags to every child. Hot cocoa and coffee also will be available for purchase.

People must stay in their vehicle at the event.

Marcel’s is located at 12609 E. Highway 20.

COBB

Halloween drive-thru at the Little Red Schoolhouse

The Mountain Lions Club of Cobb will host a drive-thru Halloween event at the Little Red Schoolhouse from 6 to 8 p.m.

Come in your costume and pick up treat bags and goodies. There will be special bags available for those with allergies.

The Little Red Schoolhouse is located at 15780 Bottle Rock Road.

KELSEYVILLE

Little Monsters Halloween Trunk or Treat

Richmond Park Bar and Grill will hold the Little Monsters Halloween Trunk or Treat from 2 to 5 p.m.

Costumes are admired but not mandatory.

COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing will apply.

Richmond Park is located at 9435 Konocti Bay Road.

Clear Lake Riviera Community Association and Ely Stage Stop Trunk or Treat

The Clear Lake Riviera Community Association along with the Ely Stage Stop will offer a trunk or treat event from 4 to 6 p.m.

The event will be held at the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum, 9921 Soda Bay Road.

Kelseyville Drive-Thru Halloween

The Kelseyville Drive-Thru Halloween will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. at 5846 Live Oak Drive, and is hosted by West Coast Fire & Water.

Kids – put on your favorite costume, grab your favorite driver, and head on over for a fun, free Kelseyville Halloween.

Drive through the parking lot where businesses and organizations from the community will be handing out candy.

This is a COVID-safe environment: Candy is commercially packaged, vendors will be wearing masks and gloves, attendees will stay socially distanced by remaining in their cars.

For more information, contact West Coast Fire & Water at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-972-7946.

LAKEPORT

Corn maze and pumpkin patch

The Wildhurst Vineyards corn maze and pumpkin patch will have its final day of the season on Halloween.

The maze, located at 4405 Thomas Drive in Lakeport, across from Rainbow Ag, will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The cost is $10 per person for adults, $5 for children. People are asked to purchase their tickets ahead of time here: https://thatcornmaze.square.site.

Due to COVID-19, masks will be required along with social distancing.

A portion of the funds will benefit the Kelseyville High School FFA.

Drive-thru trick or treating

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A drive-thru trick or treat event for children will be held on Saturday, Oct. 31, in downtown Lakeport.

The city of Lakeport, Lakeport Main Street Association and Kiwanis Club of Lakeport are hosting the event, which will take place from 4 to 7 p.m., or until treats run out.

Drive-thru trick or treating will take place on Park Street between First and Third streets.

Vehicles enter from First Street onto Park Street. Follow the signs.

Participants must stay in their vehicles to receive a treat.

Haunted Lake County

Haunted Lake County will offer a COVID-19 safe and scary drive-thru Halloween experience from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St.

From 5 to 6 p.m. is a less-scary hour for children.

The show for mature audiences takes place from 6 to 10 p.m.

The requested donation is $20 per vehicle, with proceeds to benefit the Lake County Fair Foundation.

‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ screening

Lakeport Auto Movies will host a showing of the cult classic, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at 11 p.m. Gates open at 10:30 p.m.

Tickets are $20 per car when purchased online at www.lakeportautomovies.com. Snacks also can be ordered online.

Face masks are required at the box office and when visiting the snack bar or restrooms. Be sure to check out the drive-in’s COVID-19 rules on its website for a full list of social distancing rules and protocols.

MIDDLETOWN

Hometown Halloween

“Hometown Halloween” will be held at Middletown Central Park from noon to 3 p.m.

The afternoon of old-fashioned family fun will include corn dogs and other foods, games, music, raffles and a costume parade.

Masks and social distancing are strongly encouraged.

Middletown Central Park is located at 15229 Central Park Road.

Proceeds will benefit Promise 4 Hope.

 

For most of the U.S., the clock goes back one hour on Sunday morning, Nov. 1, the “fall back” for daylight saving time. Many of us appreciate the extra hour of sleep.

But for millions, that gain won’t counter the inadequate sleep they get the rest of the year. About 40% of adults – 50 to 70 million Americans – get less than the recommended minimum seven hours per night.

Some researchers are concerned about how the twice-a-year switch impacts our body’s physiology. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the largest scientific organization that studies sleep, now wants to replace daylight saving time with a move to a year-round fixed time. That way, our internal circadian clocks would not be misaligned for half the year. And it would eliminate the safety risk from sleep loss when transitioning to daylight savings time.

I am a neurologist at the University of Florida. I’ve studied how a lack of sleep can impair the brain. In the 1940s, most American adults averaged 7.9 hours of sleep a night. Today, it’s only 6.9 hours. To put it another way: In 1942, 84% of us got the recommended seven to nine hours; in 2013, it was 59%. To break it down further, a January 2018 study from Fitbit reported that men got even less sleep per night than women, about 6.5 hours.

The case for sleep

Problems from sleep shortage go beyond simply being tired. Compared to those who got enough sleep, adults who are short sleepers – those getting less than seven hours per day – were more likely to report 10 chronic health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma and depression.

Children, who need more sleep than adults, face even more challenges. To promote optimal health, six- to 12-year-olds should sleep nine to 12 hours a day; teens from 13 to 18, eight to 10 hours. But a Sleep Foundation poll of parents says children are getting at least one hour less than that. And researchers have found that sleep deprivation of even a single hour can harm a child’s developing brain, affecting memory encoding and attentiveness in school.

Sleep impacts every one of our biological systems. Serious consequences can result with poor sleep quality. Here’s a short list: Blood pressure may increase. Risk of coronary heart disease could go up. Our endocrine system releases more cortisol, a stress hormone. We become more aroused by “fight or flight” syndrome. There’s a reduction of growth hormone and muscle maintenance. There’s a higher chance of increased appetite and weight gain. The body has less glucose tolerance and greater insulin resistance; in the long term, that means an increased risk for Type 2 diabetes.

Sleep deprivation is associated with increased inflammation and a decreased number of antibodies to fight infections. It may also cause a decrease in pain tolerance, reaction times and memory. Occupational studies show sleep loss can cause poor work performance, including more days missed and more car accidents.

Recent research suggests the body’s waste removal process relies on sleep to get rid of harmful proteins from the brain, particularly abnormal variants of amyloid. These are the same proteins that are elevated in Alzheimer’s patients. Studies show that older adults who sleep less have greater accumulation of these proteins in their brains.

On the other hand, getting enough sleep helps the body in many ways by protecting against some of these damaging effects and by boosting the immune system.

The problem with DST

Most of the risk associated with daylight saving time occurs in the spring, when we turn the clock forward and lose one hour of sleep. The idea of a national permanent year-round time has support, but disagreements exist on whether the fixed time should be standard time or daylight savings time.

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States advocating for permanent daylight saving time are typically those that rely on tourism. Environmentalists, favoring less energy consumption from morning heating and evening air conditioning, often support permanent standard time. Religious groups, whose prayer times are linked to sundown and sunrise, also tend to prefer permanent standard time. So do many educators, opposed to transporting children to school during mornings when it’s still dark.

As you ponder what system is best for a national year-round standard, consider this: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended we go with permanent standard time – a better way to align with our natural circadian clock and minimize health and safety risks.

And just think: If we change to permanent standard time, then for the first time in decades, you won’t lose an hour of sleep every spring.

Michael S. Jaffee, Vice Chair, Department of Neurology, University of Florida

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Building on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement last week establishing a Scientific Safety Review Workgroup to advise the state on COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Erica Pan, acting state Public Health officer, has named a group of California immunization, geriatrics, ethics, epidemiology, health equity, and pharmacy practice experts to the state’s COVID-19 Drafting Guidelines Workgroup.

This Workgroup will develop California-specific guidance for the prioritization and allocation of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The guidance will be based on several national frameworks from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19 vaccine supplies are expected to be limited initially.

The Drafting Guidelines Workgroup is part of the state’s initial COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, which was submitted to the CDC on Oct. 16. Many vaccine candidates are in clinical trials currently, and California is putting a system in place for a safety review, prioritization, distribution and administration of vaccines as supply becomes available.

“Initial supplies of an approved vaccine will be limited and we know we will need to get them to our state’s front-line healthcare workers and others at highest risk, such as the most vulnerable living in nursing homes, first. The Drafting Guidelines Workgroup will help us make difficult decisions and guidelines about vaccine allocation and distribution both early on when the resources are scarce, and later as supplies increase. We want as much informed and broad input as possible to ensure allocation is done in a way that meets the needs of our state and that these choices are made with equity and with full transparency so everyone understands the allocation and distribution decisions,” said Dr. Pan.

California’s planning process for the eventual distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccine is guided by the overarching principles of ensuring the COVID-19 vaccine meets safety requirements; ensuring that the vaccine is distributed and administered equitably, at first to those with the highest risk of becoming infected and spreading COVID-19; and transparency, by bringing in community stakeholders from the outset.

The members of the Drafting Guidelines Workgroup are:

· Co-Chairperson Oliver Brooks, MD, CMO, Watts Health Care Corp. and president, National Medical Association;
· Co-Chairperson Robert Schechter, MD, MPH, Chief, Immunizations Branch, CDPH;
· Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PHD, professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis and Founding Director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at UC Davis Health;
· Louise Aronson, MD, MFA, director, Age Self Care Program, UCSF and Clinical Lead, Senior Hub, San Francisco Department of Public Health Covid-19 Response;
· Randy Bergen, MD, Immunization Lead, Kaiser Permanente, Northern California;
· Arleen Brown, MD, co-lead investigator, Covid-19 California Alliance of STOP COVID-19 CA;
· Susan Ducore, RN, immunization lead, California Indian Health Service;
· Katherine Flores, MD, UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research;
· Jeff Goad, PharmD., chair, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Chapman University;
· Claire Jarashow, PhD, MPH, epidemic intelligence service officer, Centers for Disease Control and acting director, Vaccine Preventable Disease Control and chief, Epidemiology and Data, Acute Communicable Disease, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health;
· Bernard Lo, MD, director, Program in Medical Ethics, UCSF, Emeritus and President, The Greenwall Foundation, New York;
· Ngoc-Phuong Luu, MD, health officer, Yuba and Sutter counties;
· Jeff Silvers, MD, immunization lead, Sutter Health;
· Melissa Thun, RN, Public Health nurse manager, San Diego County;
· Ann Walker, RN, PHN, Immunization program coordinator, Kern County Department of Health; and
· Mike Witte, MD, CMO, California Primary Care Association.

A Community Advisory Vaccine Committee will also provide input and feedback to the planning efforts and solve barriers of equitable vaccine implementation and decision-making.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – While it’s felt like 2020 has had more tricks than treats, and has been plenty scary on its own, Haunted Lake County is returning for another year, undaunted by the challenges of COVID-19 and with plans for a bigger drive-thru event.

Wayne Yahnke, cofounder and treasurer of Haunted Lake County, said they are excited to put on a COVID-safe Halloween this year at the Lake County Fairgrounds, located at 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.

He said the drive-thru approach to scaring local residents received approval from Lake County Public Health.

It had its first run this past weekend and is ramping up for the finale, on Friday, Oct. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 31, Halloween night.

The event will take place from 5 to 10 p.m. both nights. From 5 to 6 p.m. is a less-scary hour for children. Adults are encouraged to come back for the show for mature audiences from 6 to 10 p.m.

On Halloween night, Yahnke said the Kiwanis Club has approval to deliver candy safely through the windows of vehicles using a PVC pipe.

Yahnke said the show this year includes the entire fairgrounds, with visitors to take a quarter-mile drive through the grounds. They’ll enter the carnival area at gate four and then be directed through the event, ultimately leaving through the main gate.

Last year, the event was threatened by public safety power shutoffs. But Yahnke said community members helped by providing generators and the show went off without a hitch.

“The power went off and nobody knew it,” he said. “We pulled off a haunted house last year with no power.”

Yahnke said it takes weeks to prepare and involves the work of up to 30 volunteers, ranging in age from 12 to 60.

“We normally start construction the weekend after Labor Day,” he said, but this year the schedule was delayed by at least a week due to Public Health approvals and other issues.

As part of getting approval from Public Health, Yahnke said they had to write up a four-page COVID-19 plan.

Once the six weeks of construction was under way, it was crunch time. “We’ve really had to reach hard to make this happen,” Yahnke said.

He said they’ve never done an event this large, and had to be even more creative than normal. One of the questions for them was how to scare people in their cars.

“We’ve come up with some pretty good stuff,” Yahnke said.

This year’s theme revolves around the fairgrounds, from the carnival to boat races to livestock, Yahnke said.

They’ve gotten support from Hillside Honda, JKL Construction, Kelseyville Lumber, Dave Furia and Furia Motorsports in getting cars, and Forrest Kuecker who transported the cars.

“The list goes on and on,” Yahnke said of the people and businesses that have stepped up to help.

This year, he said Haunted Lake County is asking for a minimum donation of $20 per car.

Haunted Lake County raised $6,000 last year that was donated to Operation Tango Mike, he said.

Yahnke said their beneficiary this year is the Lake County Fair Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports the fairgrounds.

He said they are excited to be able to put on Halloween in some form and give families a way to avoid going out trick or treating.

They’re trying to promote the holiday as much as possible while keeping elements of safety, Yahnke said.

For more information, visit Haunted Lake County’s website and Facebook page.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric said late Tuesday night that it had restored power to 97 percent of the 345,000 customers in 34 counties – including Lake – whose power had been turned off over the weekend due to red flag warning conditions.

The company implemented the public safety power shutoff, or PSPS – which began on Sunday morning in some parts of the region and on Sunday afternoon in Lake County – across a large swath of PG&E’s service area.

An initial partial all-clear had been called for Lake County on Monday, with about 5 percent restored on Monday night. PG&E told Lake County News at that time that the rest of the county was set to be restored by Tuesday night.

Due to continuing high winds and dynamic weather conditions that lasted overnight Monday and into Tuesday, the weather “all clear” notification for the remaining impacted areas was issued at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, PG&E said.

Following this all clear, PG&E crews began power restoration efforts in areas still out of power.

Ahead of restoring power, PG&E follows a protocol that involves patrolling lines and electrical equipment for damage.

PG&E said its crews have patrolled more than 17,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines using 1,800 ground patrol units, 65 helicopters and one airplane.

As of Tuesday night, PG&E said it had received 130 reports of damage or hazards to equipment – such as downed power lines or vegetation on lines – due to the high winds that moved across the region, which it said could have led to wildland fires had the PSPS not occurred.

By Tuesday night, PG&E said more than 335,000 of the approximately 345,000 customers impacted by the PSPS had power restored.

PG&E mapping indicated that by Tuesday night Lake County had power restored, with all of its community resource centers closed, according to the company’s PSPS website.

The approximately 10,000 customers still without power on Tuesday night throughout the outage area can expect to have their power restored by noon on Wednesday, PG&E officials said in a Tuesday night briefing.

Mark Quinlan, PG&E’s incident commander, said that the company doesn’t expect another PSPS for the coming week and a half.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Red flag conditions with strong wind gusts continued to test the containment lines on the August Complex South Zone this week.

The complex, which has been burning for two months after being started by lightning, remained at 1,032,648 acres on Tuesday, with containment at 93 percent, the US Forest Service reported.

It is burning in the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.

The complex’s South Zone, which includes the Mendocino National Forest in northern Lake County, remained at 499,827 acres and 90 percent containment on Tuesday, the Forest Service said.

Additional personnel arrived at the South Zone Monday bringing the total number of people to 224. The Forest Service said 594 personnel are assigned to the complex as a whole.

Officials said the fire crews continue to focus on removing hazard trees, conducting fire suppression repair in priority areas and breaking down berms near containment lines.

On Monday, during the red flag warning, at times the northeast wind blew up to 40 miles per hour and the humidity dipped into the single digits, dropping as low as 1 percent at Mendocino Pass, the Forest Service reported.

The area of the fire that is not contained is in the Hellhole Canyon east of Covelo. This steep, dangerous terrain is not a safe place to have firefighters engaged directly with the fire, officials said.

Instead, the Forest Service said crews have worked to construct firelines on a ridge where suppression actions could be taken if it moved out of the Canyon. They have also been assisted by a helicopter dropping water on the fire when activity increases.

Throughout the duration of the August Complex, fire managers have been using distributed real time infrared, or DRTI, and fire imaging technology to support wildland firefighting operations and decision making, the Forest Service said.

Officials said DRTI is a packaged product which provides infrared video to frontline operators and near-real time perimeter maps to incident command planners. Point/spot detection in concert with high-resolution photographs make DRTI an effective detection tool.

The high altitude, high speed flight characteristics of the Air National Guard RC-26 aircraft provide the ability to fly detection missions over broad geographic areas. Wireless transfer of data from the aircraft facilitates transfer of information to ground units, according to the Forest Service report.

Utilizing the DRTI flights, firefighters can gather immediate information on heat signatures within the fire area. The Forest Services said the system can pinpoint heat signatures posing a threat to containment, allowing firefighters to quickly address those hazards and in turn decrease exposure to firefighters on the ground.