After meeting the criteria for two weeks, Santa Barbara County is now moving to the orange tier.
In the province, the number of active cases decreased by 21 percent from April 5 to 19. The number of hospital admissions and intensive care units is the lowest since October last year – hospital admissions are down by 63 percent and ICU cases by 71 percent. Santa Maria, in particular, saw the number of cases decrease by 53 percent from April 1 to 15.
The county’s adjusted number of cases is 4.5, and the positivity rate is 1.8 percent. To fall in the orange layer, the adjusted number of cases must be less than 5.9 and the positivity rate must be less than 4.9 percent.
Jasmine McGinty, chief executive analyst at the province, gave an update Tuesday on the impact of the orange layer on businesses. She said that to date there are 4,706 companies that have submitted their attestation and have reopened.
The main difference between the transition from the red to the orange layer, McGinty said, is that the allowable abilities change. For example, up to 25 people were allowed to congregate in the red layer, but in the orange layer that goes up to 50. Although the full list of guidelines appears Tuesday evening, the state guideline for the orange layer may be found here.
VACCINE UPDATE
Fifty-two percent of Santa Barbara County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 29 percent have been fully vaccinated.
This week, the province received 7,280 first doses and 16,870 second doses. These totals do not include federal allocations to pharmacies and other providers. Each week the allocations are increasing more.
Health Director Van Do-Reynoso also provided an update on the province’s mobile clinics. The aim of the clinics is to bring the vaccine to those who do not have access to it, and it is built on public health success by bringing the vaccine to seniors, homebound people and the homeless.
There are five bilingual teams made up of eight or nine public health staff. The Santa Maria Health Center is home to three teams, the Lompoc Health Center is home to one team, and the Santa Barbara Healthcare Center is home to one team. The target groups are H2-A housing, community-based mental health and treatment centers, churches and others.
Do-Reynoso also encourages community groups to partner with Public Health and request a mobile clinic for their employees or clients by sending an email [email protected].
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