In the past month, in Santa Barbara County, the number of active COVID-19 cases has quadrupled and the number of hospital admissions has nearly tripled.
“The number of cases is astonishing, it’s astronomical,” said Health Director Van Do-Reynoso at Tuesday’s Supervisory Board meeting. “We expect to be on the rise at least until the end of January because of the holiday trips and meetings.”
Public health officials reported eight more COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, including three Santa Maria residents, a Santa Barbara resident, an unincorporated South County resident, a Lompoc resident, an Orcutt resident, and a North County resident. without legal personality. According to the county, three of the deaths were associated with outbreaks from municipal facilities.
As of March, 207 people have died from COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County, and a third of those deaths have been reported in the past month.
COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions have skyrocketed in recent weeks, creating consistent records and breaking and raising concerns about the availability of the intensive care unit.
On December 31, the public health department reported a record high of 396 new daily cases. That number was surpassed shortly after, with 456 new cases reported Jan. 4, and hit Thursday when 512 new cases were reported.
The highest number of daily cases to date was reported on Sunday, when the county reported 779 new cases in just one day.
470 new cases were reported on Tuesday. There are currently 2,895 people infected (people who recently tested positive, which the county calls active cases).
More than 200 Santa Barbara County residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest number recorded during the pandemic. (Giana Magnoli / Noozhawk Illustration)
Santa Barbara County had an adjusted number of cases of 64 new daily cases per 100,000 people on Tuesday and an average seven-day positive test rate of 16.8%.
Hospital admissions surpassed 200 for the first time on Tuesday, when Public Health reported 211 COVID-19 patients in local hospitals across the county, 56 of whom require intensive care.
In total, 80 of 89 staffed IC beds were occupied on Tuesday, and 71% of those patients have COVID-19, according to the province’s Community Data Dashboard.
Public health officials expect the county to remain under Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home mandate for at least another month, as forecasts do not show ICU availability in the Southern California region will reach 15% or higher. From Tuesday it was 0%.
As Do-Reynoso said, public health officials believe cases and hospital admissions will increase for several more weeks because of the delay between exposure, infection, and getting sick enough to require hospital care, for those who do.
It has been less than three weeks since Christmas and two weeks since New Year’s Eve, when many people traveled and attended meetings.
| Santa Barbara County | December 15th | December 22 | December 29 | January 5th | January 12th |
| New positive cases have been reported in the past week | 1,268 | 1,445 | 1,541 | 2,320 | 3,240 |
| New cases among health workers in the past week | 54 | 84 | 72 | 50 | 113 |
| Total number of test results reported in the past week | 17,532 | 18,243 | 15,753 | 12,681 | 23,953 |
| COVID-19 positive hospital patients | 78 | 103 | 127 | 172 | 211 |
| Active cases (still infectious after positive testing) | 1059 | 1,245 | 1227 | 2,105 | 2,895 |
| Cumulative COVID-19 related deaths | 140 | 150 | 156 | 173 | 207 |
County expands test sites, advances on first round of vaccination
The province has expanded free COVID-19 testing capabilities to the public and can test 1,173 people per day at the five sites, Do-Reynoso said.
“Having the mobile test unit and the additional capacity of 500 tests that it brings is really timely and important,” said Gregg Hart, second district supervisor, of the newest location, at the CenCal Health building in the United States. near Santa Barbara. Appointments for all five sites can be made online.
Do-Reynoso said the province has 48 case investigators / contact investigators who work seven days a week. They can close about 400 cases on a weekday and 200 on weekends when they have fewer staff, she said.
The percentage of cases with a full contact tracing investigation has fallen as the number of cases increases, and public health officials have asked members of the public for help.
“With the dramatic spike in positive cases, the public health department is working as soon as possible to contact anyone who has recently tested positive, but resources are expanding further than previously seen, even with peak capacity plans in place,” officials said. . in a statement dated Dec. 14. “It is critical that the public help. If people have tested positive for the virus, they must take immediate action to stay home and isolate themselves from others, while following isolation guidelines and others who are in close contact with them. had to notify. “
According to the Public Health Department’s Community Data Dashboard, one-third of the 207 local COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the past month. (Illustration Santa Barbara County Public Health Department)
About 80% of cases had a contact tracking investigation in October and 70% from Nov. 25 to Dec. 24, but only 59% have undergone an investigation since Dec. 25, Do-Reynoso said.
Incomplete contact details for tracing data from the last week of December show that white-collar workers / executives, health workers, children and retirees / unemployed are over-represented in recent cases compared to the overall pandemic.
Do-Reynoso also provided an update on the nationwide vaccination efforts.
The Public Health Department distributed most of its vaccine doses to community providers, including hospitals, and 53% of those 13,975 doses were delivered in three weeks, she said.
Public health itself has vaccination sites and used 40% of the 2,800 doses last week, she added.
COVID-19 vaccine doses are still prioritized for the first stage of humans, which Governor Newsom called “vaccinating the vaccinators.”
Health workers, medical workers, and staff and residents of long-term municipal care facilities are eligible for vaccination.
The county is making good progress among those groups, officials said, and expects to have information about appointments to the next stage of people 75 or older shortly.
“We get people hope, optimism, and then the resilience to stay under public health a little longer to get the virus under control,” Hart said.
The Public Health Department’s new coronavirus website, publichealthsbc.org, has information on the vaccination distribution plan and estimated timelines.
“Currently, little details are available about registering for appointments as the outreach is specifically aimed at our health care system,” the Health Department said Monday.
– Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at . (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @Newsurvey and @RTLnews. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.