With a post-holiday COVID-19 surge, the spread of the virus in Santa Barbara County is the highest of all California counties.
During Friday’s weekly press conference, Van Do-Reynoso, Santa Barbara County Director of Health, explained the reasoning behind that latest data and how the country is in distress amid the raging pandemic.
“The spread of COVID-19 is higher in Santa Barbara County than in any other California jurisdiction,” said Do-Reynoso. “These are grim figures – extremely worrying.”
The county’s effective reproductive rate, also called the R-effective, is the average number of people each infected person will transmit the virus, and it represents the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading, according to the California Department of Public Health. The average R-effective number uses estimates from Covid Act Now, the state site says.
COVID-19 will spread “exponentially” if the R effective value is greater than one, and the virus will “spread more slowly and decrease cases” if the number is less than one, Do-Reynoso said. Friday night, the CDPH estimated that the county’s number is the highest in the state at 1.27.
Do-Reynoso said that two weeks after the start of the new year, the province is experiencing the effects of extended gatherings, travel and mingling and mingling during the holidays.
“Since the holidays, the numbers have grown exponentially,” she said, noting that the county’s COVID-19 statistics are “extremely high.”
There have been 3,309 new cases in the province in the past seven days, with an average of 472.7 cases per day. In the past seven days, the province registered 2,561 new cases, an average of 365.9 cases per day.
There were 2,786 active cases in the province on Friday, and that number is “roughly tripling the number of active cases since before the holiday,” Do-Reynoso said.
The total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and patients in the intensive care unit “ has quadrupled since the holiday, ” said Do-Reynoso, adding that the county’s test positivity for COVID-19 is about 16% – doubling since the holiday. .
Santa Barbara County will begin vaccinating residents 75 or older next Wednesday, but there is limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccine and people may not get an appointment right away.
According to the province, there are more than 32,000 residents of the province aged 75 or older.
California officials have extended eligibility to residents 65 or older at this stage, but vaccinations will begin for them as more vaccines become available through the state. Click here for more information.
New COVID-19 cases
Public health officials reported an additional 364 COVID-19 cases and five new deaths on Friday.
To date, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases is 23,538 and the related deaths is 228.
Four of those who died were over the age of 70, and one was between the ages of 50 and 69, according to the Public Health Department.
Three of them had underlying medical conditions, and one death was associated with an outbreak at a municipal center. Two lived in Santa Maria, two lived in Lompoc and the Mission Hills and Vandenberg Village communities, and one lived in Orcutt. District officials group some geographic areas in their COVID-19 daily district reports.
192 confirmed COVID-19 patients were treated in local hospitals, down from 197 the previous day. Of these, 52 were in intensive care – one less than the day before. There were 89 manned adult IC beds in use, and more than 58% of them were occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to the province’s online data dashboard.
The availability of ICUs in the multi-country Southern California region was 0% Friday. Santa Barbara County’s adjusted ICU availability increased slightly to 1.3%.
Local hospitals are providing “an ever-increasing number of people sick enough to need hospital care,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, county public health officer. “We expect this trend to likely continue into February.”
The majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations are among Santa Barbara County residents in the 40-50 age group, Ansorg said Friday.
“Even young and otherwise healthy people can become seriously ill from this virus,” Ansorg said.
Sue Andersen, president / CEO of Marian Regional Medical Center, said the hospital is experiencing a COVID-19 spike “greater than what we’ve seen so far”.
Marian carried out his wave action plans and uses extra bed space “we have only prepared for these kinds of situations,” said Andersen.
Of Friday’s new cases, Santa Barbara had 120, Santa Maria 85, and both Lompoc and the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area reported 31. There were 19 in Goleta, 16 in the Santa Ynez Valley and 15 in the unincorporated area from the Goleta Valley and Gaviota. Ten each were reported in Orcutt and the unincorporated areas of North County and Guadalupe. Four were in Isla Vista, and 23 cases were pending geographic location.
According to Raquel Zick, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, 28 additional inmates and nine additional Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department staff tested positive for COVID-19 this week. This brings the total number of inmates in the Main Jail who tested positive to 154, and a total of 97 sheriff’s employees have tested positive for COVID-19 to date.
“Five of the inmates tested positive during the intake screening, and two have since been released,” Zick said. “The remaining 23 are part of an outbreak currently being managed in one of the housing units in the main prison.”
Detainees in the associated residential areas were screened and offered testing for COVID-19, Zick said.
“All COVID-19 positive inmates are either housed in negative pressure residential areas or housed separately from the general population,” she said. “All affected residential areas are quarantined and closely monitored by medical personnel.”
There are 49 inmates with an active case of COVID-19 in the Main Jail, Zick said Friday.
Meanwhile, a Santa Maria Juvenile Hall staffer of the provincial probation service and a staffer from the Los Prietos Boys Camp tested positive for COVID-19, according to Karyn Milligan, a public probation officer.
One youngster also tested positive when he was booked with SMJH, Milligan said Friday. The youth “is experiencing mild symptoms” and “is housed in a medical observation unit used specifically for positive COVID-19 youth.”
After tracing virus contacts, Milligan said, identified personnel were tested as a precaution and their results were negative for COVID-19.
An increase in positive cases while booking seems to show just how widespread COVID-19 is in the community, Milligan said.
“It is noteworthy that the last four youths enrolled at SMJH have all tested positive for COVID-19,” said Milligan. “The youngsters are not connected in any way, they come from different parts of the county, including the northern, southern and mid-county regions.”
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