The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department announced the first death of children related to COVID-19 on Friday, as well as 186 new cases of the disease.
Officials said the Santa Maria resident who died was in the age group 12 to 17 and had underlying conditions.
“This horrific news reminds us of the seriousness of this pandemic,” said Health Director Van Do-Reynoso at Friday’s press conference. “I again urge all community members to protect each other by avoiding gatherings during this winter holiday as cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase in our country, state and county.”
In addition, the Department of Public Health reported a second death from COVID-19 on Friday. The person was a Lompoc resident over the age of 70 with underlying medical conditions, officials said.
The two deaths reported Friday were unrelated to a COVID-19 outbreak at a municipal facility in the county, the department said.
The latest report brings the county’s total number of cases to 14,376 residents who tested positive for COVID-19.
According to Do-Reynoso, the province is currently experiencing a “second wave” of COVID-19 activity.
“Our first wave was during the summer months,” said Do-Reynoso. “This second wave started in early November and will probably be bigger than our first wave.”
Public health officials have been preparing to see a spike in positive COVID-19 cases after the recent Thanksgiving weekend, when some residents heeded the urges to avoid travel and get together with others beyond their immediate control household.
There have been 1,519 new COVID-19 cases in the province in the past seven days, which equates to an average of 217 cases per day.
An uncertain future looms as COVID-19 statistics continue to rise amid a surge in community transmission.
“It is unclear how long this increase in COVID-19 will last in our community,” said Do-Reynoso.
This holiday season, Do-Reynoso said, public health officials are concerned that COVID-19 positive cases from family and friends will continue.
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is growing in the province, with recent figures “as high as they’ve ever been,” Do-Reynoso said.
Gregg Hart, chairman of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, provides an update on Friday’s meeting with California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly. County officials asked Ghaly to “give our region a chance to better control our own destiny for the creation of a new Central Coast sub-region” with Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, Hart said. (Brooke Holland / Noozhawk photo)
On Friday 90 patients were treated in local hospitals. 24 of those patients were in intensive care.
The Southern California region had 0% ICU bed capacity left on Friday, while the county availability was 29.9%. The ICU availability of the Southern California region must be 15% or more before the county leaves the regional stay-at-home order.
Cottage Health is temporarily reducing the number of selection procedures in response to COVID-19 related capacity problems. The health care system operates hospitals in Santa Barbara, Goleta and Santa Ynez.
“While the good news is that we currently have ICU capability, staffing remains a top priority,” said Dr. Lynn Fitzgibbons, Infectious Disease Specialist at Cottage Health.
Of Friday’s 186 new COVID-19 cases, Santa Maria had 50, Santa Barbara 49, Lompoc 25, Goleta 20, the Goleta Valley unincorporated area, and Gaviota had eight, and Santa Ynez Valley had seven. There were five cases in Orcutt, three in the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area, and two each in Isla Vista and the unincorporated communities of North County, which includes Guadalupe. Geographic locations were pending for 15 cases.
Gregg Hart, chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, spoke about how he met with California Health and Human Services Agency secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, along with local elected officials.
County officials asked Ghaly to “give our region a chance to better master our own destiny for the creation of a new Central Coast sub-region” with Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.
Ghaly “promised to seriously consider the county’s proposal and to continue the dialogue,” Hart said, adding that Ghaly’s response to the proposal of a new Central Coast sub-region was “very encouraging.” Ghaly “expressed appreciation for the excellent work our county has done, working with the state to reduce the spread of the virus.”
The County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on December 8 to send a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom requesting the county, along with neighboring counties of Ventura and San Luis Obispo, the Southern California region of residence. to leave the state. home order.
State Senate Monique Limón, who represents the 19th Senate District, and Assemblyman Steve Bennett, the 37th State Assembly District’s representative, attended the meeting remotely.
Both Limón and Bennett “expressed their strong support for the county’s proposal to Dr. Ghaly,” said Hart.
“I shared with Dr. Ghaly my concern that local residents are getting frustrated because they believe their individual actions and our community-wide responses to COVID-19 have been lost in the very large context of the Southern California region of 20 million residents,” Hart said.
Hart said he “remains hopeful and optimistic that we can find a path to success.”
Local homeless shelters have been closed to new admissions due to COVID-19 outbreaks or fear of outbreaks, Do-Reynoso said.
In the week of Dec. 6-12, Do-Reynoso said the Health Department began investigating and reducing new outbreaks in 17 counties and six businesses, including the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
“COVID activity is at the highest level it has ever been in our province,” said Do-Reynoso, adding that the disease is widespread.
Meanwhile, a sheriff’s deputy and custody deputy have tested positive for COVID-19, and two COVID-19 positive inmates have been taken into custody at the main jail near Santa Barbara, according to the sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel. Zick.
That brings the total number of sheriff’s employees who tested positive for COVID-19 to 61, and 50 recovered and returned to work, Zick said.
She noted that the deputy wore a mask at work and the deputy wore personal protective equipment while on the job.
Two unrelated COVID-19 positive inmates have recently been booked to the Main Jail, Zick said Friday.
“Both inmates were found to be positive for COVID-19 during the intake screening process and are each housed in residential areas with negative air pressure, separate from the general population,” said Zick.
To date, a total of 89 COVID-19 positive inmates have been housed in the main prison. Of these, 68 prisoners have been recovered.
Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county public health officer, said Moderna and Pfizer plan to ship COVID-19 vaccines “weekly.” Each immunization is recorded in a specially created, national COVID-19 database, Ansorg said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use permit Friday for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, and the province expects thousands of doses to be taken early next week, Do-Reynoso said.
Thursday, the highly anticipated Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Santa Barbara County, and local hospital workers were among the first to receive injections of the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the county’s public health department, at least 727 health workers have tested positive for COVID-19 to date.
Supply of the COVID-19 vaccine remains limited and Santa Barbara County will implement a phased approach to distribute the vaccine in the coming weeks and months, public health officials said. Staged distribution of the vaccine will begin with people most at risk of contracting the virus, public health officials said.
Following the vaccination of hospital staff, the COVID-19 vaccine will soon be available to residents and staff of long-term care facilities, and thereafter to first responders in the emergency medical service and dialysis providers.
The first 3,900 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have arrived, with 1,950 doses to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and 1,950 doses to Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, public health officials said Thursday.
The COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be more available to the general public in the spring of 2021.
County public health officials said this week that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine “will work to reduce the risk of contamination with the virus and improve our natural defenses by increasing our antibodies to the virus.”
Fitzgibbons was one of the first front-line workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccination this week, and she described how she felt in her arm about 24 hours after the injection.
“I had a somewhat sore arm,” Fitzgibbons said during Friday’s press conference. “I’m grateful I didn’t have any of the brief systemic side effects.”
Click here to search on an interactive map for a COVID-19 testing facility in California.
The County Public Health Department’s COVID-19 website, publichealthsbc.org, provides information on what to do if you have tested positive for the disease, have been identified as a contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, or are being suspect he has COVID-19.
Click here for information about COVID-19 vaccination in Santa Barbara County.
Click here for Noozhawk’s Coronavirus Crisis section.
– Noozhawk personnel writer Brooke Holland 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.