Santa Barbara County Has Highest COVID-19 Spread in California
Santa Barbara County Has Highest COVID-19 Spread in California
Santa Barbara County Has Highest COVID-19 Spread in California
Santa Barbara County Has Highest COVID-19 Spread in California
By the edhat staff
New state data shows Santa Barbara County has the highest rate of COVID-19 spread out of any other county in California.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is tracking each county's effective reproduction number, also known as the R-effective, to determine the average number of people each infected person will pass the virus onto thus representing the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading.
Based on the state's model, Santa Barbara County has the highest R-effective in the state at 1.27 as of Friday, said Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso. She explained anything above 1 means the virus is spreading exponentially.
R-effective trends by County from October 28, 2020 to January 13, 2021 (Source: CalCat)
Public Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg stated the metrics are determined based on the number of positive tests, new cases, and how quickly they increase. He cited a series of huge jumps in case rates that show exponential growth of the virus and how fast it spreads.
Dr. Do-Reynoso said the county is in "dire straits" as this past Sunday proved to have the highest case rate of 779 new COVID-19 infections beating the previous record by 200 cases. The hosital rates and weekly deaths have quadrupled with the testing positivity reaching 16%.
These "extremely concerning" numbers were described as a surge on top of a surge and are directly related to holiday gatherings and travel that will likely last until February, said Dr. Do-Reynoso.
R-effective rates by county (Source: CalCat)
Vaccinations Open Up to Anyone 75 Years of Age or Older
Santa Barbara County is beginning vaccination efforts for people 75 years of age and older. Medical providers who are approved to administer the vaccination will be contacting eligible patients to schedule vaccination appointments. Vaccinations will also be made available at each of the public health community vaccination points of distribution (PODs) which are located throughout the county.
This is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, January 20th. Once enough vaccination supply is received, community members aged 65 through 74 will be able to sign up for vaccination followed by those who work in education, childcare, emergency servies, and food/grocery/agricultural sectors.
Click here for more information on the vaccine rollout.
Dr. Ansorg also addressed a few "conspiracy theories" that are circulating on social media and clarified the rumor that the vaccine will cause infertility is not backed by any scientific data, stating a few women in the vaccine trials have since conceived successfully. He also stated the theory that COVID-19-related deaths are actually due to the flu is not true as everyone admitted to the hospital is tested for both the flu and COVID-19. He stated there have been flu-reated deaths but they are much less this year due to social distancing, mask wearing, and increased hand washing.
Friday's Numbers
There were 364 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths reported on Friday.
Of those who died, four were over the age of 70, and one was between 50-69 years old. Three had underlying medical conditions and one death was associated with an outbreak at a congregate facility. Two of the deceased individuals were from Santa Maria, two from Lompoc, and one from Orcutt.
There have now been 228 deaths.
The county is now experiencing 2,786 active cases that include 192 hospitalizations with 52 in the intensive care unit.
Santa Barbara County's intensive care unit availability is currently 1.3%
Dr. Ansorg confirmed the majority of people who are hospitalized are in the 40 to 50 age range.
Public health officials reminded the community to vaccinate when it's their turn, wear a mask, keep their distance from others, wash their hands, stop gathering, and leave your home only for essential needs.
More data can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org/status-reports/.
Comments Penalty Box
1 Comments deleted due to down vote
5 Comments deleted by Administrator
88 Comments
-
2
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 06:33 PMPlus 31 more healthcare workers, gone for only two weeks if they're lucky, bringing the total to 1058 who have been infected at some point.
-
1
-
3
-
Jan 15, 2021 06:56 PMGenuinely curious as to where you are finding your statistics.....?
-
2
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 07:11 PMSanta Barbara County Public Health Status.
-
1
-
-
Jan 15, 2021 09:25 PMOkay, I'm on the Status Tab for County Health and am not seeing it. I'm not trying to be contentious, I trying to see what you're seeing.
-
2
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 11:08 PMRight under the initial block of Totals:
**Health Care Workers (HCW)= 1058
-
-
-
Jan 16, 2021 03:05 PMAnother 9 healthcare workers today.
-
-
-
Jan 17, 2021 04:03 PMSeven more today
-
3
-
6
-
Jan 15, 2021 06:37 PMExcellent job by Ansorg. Perhaps he'll get another award, maybe an Emmy this time---like Cuomo!
-
6
-
2
-
Jan 15, 2021 06:41 PMJealousy is so appealing.
-
1
-
4
-
Jan 15, 2021 06:59 PMHe's even got his own IMDB page! https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2241072/
Comment has been deleted by edhat
-
5
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 07:12 PMWhy would anyone hold such a ridiculous belief, much less admit it?
-
4
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 07:27 PM462 people age 34 and under have died in California from COVID. At least one was in SB County.
-
10
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 08:33 PMI hope shutting down state st to cars was worth it. I hope not enforcing mask wearing was worth it. Anyone with eyes could have seen this was coming to our county. Shameful
-
2
-
5
-
Jan 15, 2021 09:04 PMExcuse me SBMH, anyone testing positive now did not get it from downtown as it’s been closed over a month. Mask use in public is extremely high here so enforcement is causing the spike now either.
-
2
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 09:15 PM9:04 PM - Um, you do realize that there is such a thing as an infection being passed to subsequent contacts, don't you? And could you try that last sentence again?
-
1
-
1
-
Jan 16, 2021 12:45 PMMore VoiceOfTreason narcolepsy-inducing fakefactoidage.
-
1
-
2
-
Jan 15, 2021 09:23 PMI found this to be a truly interesting viewpoint. Science. Not something considered regarding keeping kids home....
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/study-covid-19-may-eventually-be-no-worse-than-childhood-cold/
-
2
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 11:12 PMThere is that word "eventually" in there. After a significant fraction of the community has been vaccinated.
-
1
-
2
-
Jan 15, 2021 11:29 PMSo, safe to assume you didn't bother to read the article.
-
2
-
1
-
Jan 15, 2021 11:37 PMYup. I read the medical paper that the article is based on, too.
-
11
-
4
-
Jan 15, 2021 09:39 PMMuch thanks to Trumpians, far right floppies, Q'Anon inspired freaks, anti maskers, tea party 1776'ers, arm chair epidemiologists -not to mention others just too cynical to care. The My Pillow guy can't save you.
-
5
-
4
-
Jan 16, 2021 12:02 AMI love you, General Tree.
-
-
1
-
Jan 17, 2021 06:18 AMYa that darn QAnon Governor Cuomo out there spreading dangerous rhetoric about needing to open restaurants because it is destroying their state... don’t get me started on Tea Party Mayor of Chicago stating shutting down restaurants made things worse
-
4
-
-
Jan 15, 2021 09:49 PMThat’s what happens when you don’t do anything. Today down at the packed beaches ( a majority of the people were from Los Angeles)and made New Year’s Eve look like a walk in the park Harbor Patrol was at Ledbetter and there were a bunch of drunk city college kids there in a big group probably 30+ where is county health?
-
3
-
-
Jan 15, 2021 11:06 PMWere you out and about noting these things or was this something that was addressed somewhere?
-
4
-
1
-
Jan 16, 2021 12:03 AMHe WAS out and noting these things, but left all his punctuation at home.
-
3
-
1
-
Jan 16, 2021 06:58 AMLoL
-
2
-
1
-
Jan 16, 2021 07:24 AMI was afraid of that. I keep reading about people from Los Angeles coming up here to avoid their high numbers.
-
1
-
2
-
Jan 16, 2021 01:21 AMWhat percent of SB County Health Workers are refusing the vaccine?
Comment has been deleted by edhat
-
1
-
2
-
Jan 16, 2021 07:24 AMLOL! SB don't care about the inhabitants, only the transients and occupancy taxes. Have fun!
-
2
-
-
Jan 16, 2021 08:20 AMWent for a low tide walk at Hendry’s beach and have to agree, there were big groups, looked like a holiday crowd, but we stayed far enough away that we couldn’t tell if they were from LA. How DO you tell if they’re from LA, anyway? Do they have special t-shirts or something?
-
-
1
-
Jan 17, 2021 06:14 AMMaybe we should make people pin letters on themselves to let us know where they’re from?
-
-
-
Jan 17, 2021 08:41 AMThx for bringing a smile to me in the midst of all the bad news.
Comment has been deleted by edhat
-
5
-
-
Jan 16, 2021 11:53 AMActually anyone who has contracted a significant viral load of the SARS-2 Franken Virus will probably never fully recover.
-
1
-
4
-
Jan 16, 2021 12:24 PMMy dad has stage 3 COPD and was over C19 in 3 days. The majority of the people getting it are not getting a ‘significant viral load.’ Recovery rate is 98%. Most cases never go to the ICU. Fact.
-
5
-
1
-
Jan 16, 2021 12:43 PMAlmost 400,000 people dead and Mr. Cleverlamenamehere flaps lips and thinks he's soaring. Fact.
-
-
3
-
Jan 16, 2021 01:40 PMExcellent post! Yes - very true. Another truth: If you do the PCR test and they increase the sample size over 30X, 95% of testing shows positive for COVID, even though it could be a cold. PCR test was never designed to diagnose COVID, or anything else. Guess if you look hard enough, you will find what you are looking for. THIS is why the numbers are so high.
-
3
-
1
-
Jan 16, 2021 02:07 PMAlso he is so twisted about the worst president in US history losing to Biden he felt compelled to make a snarky name about it. Biden won, bigly. Fact.
Comment has been deleted by edhat
-
3
-
1
-
Jan 16, 2021 02:29 PMDW2000 Fact indeed! And I'm so grateful. Hopefully our country will begin the healing process from all the damage wrought by this ugly administration.
Comment has been deleted by edhat
-
-
2
-
Jan 17, 2021 06:13 AMSandy1 please cite your source. Only CNN operates in “will probably”s
-
-
-
Jan 17, 2021 07:52 AMSansum Clinic / Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Santa Barbara , Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Contacts at Quest Diagnostics , SBCPHD , Clinical Laboratories , all personal contacts. I Don't watch cable TV.
-
6
-
-
Jan 16, 2021 10:44 AMFrom the stats reported Friday 1/15, there’s a bit of tipping of the scales with the city of SB having 135 cases, but the city of SM having 85 reported cases.
Cases reporting ethnicity shows about 3:1 Hispanic vs. white (144 vs 44).
101 cases were above age 50 and 263 cases were under age 50. Not surprisingly, young people aren’t being as careful as seasoned, jaded older people like myself. Wasn’t the saying back in the 60s “Never trust anyone over 30?” For the next few months it should be “Don’t trust anyone under 50”.
https://publichealthsbc.org/status-reports/
-
5
-
-
Jan 16, 2021 02:30 PMAmen, SHASTA GUY, I've seen even my brightest under 30 pals acting like it doesn't affect them. It's just insane.
Comment has been deleted by edhat
-
1
-
-
Jan 17, 2021 09:21 AMConservative, nah its not that way. kids and teenagers are affected and spread this like everyone else. stop making up false info, obviously..... its not helping.
Pages