New Humboldt County Public Health Lab Moves Forward

The design phase for the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) new state-of-the-art $28 million public health laboratory is complete and groundbreaking for the new facility at Wood and I streets in Eureka is expected as early as January 2028.

Public Health’s current laboratory is in a nearly 100-year-old building at the DHHS main location, 507 F St. In 2024, the county purchased two lots on I Street — across the street from the Behavioral Health main campus — for construction of the new facility.

The new facility will be a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building to include Biosafety Level 2 and 3 labs and office spaces, with an emphasis on implementing advanced molecular detection with genomic sequencing testing.

Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Candy Stockton said the new lab will help protect the community by providing the infrastructure to keep up with advances in technology.

“This new facility will help us maintain the capability to quickly test for diseases that can have a big impact on the health of our community, such as measles, rabies and bird flu,” as well as possible bioterrorism threats, Stockton said. Local testing means results within hours instead of the days required to send tests out of the county, she said.

DHHS continues to seek funding for the project, which could be done as early as spring 2029.

— Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services