Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (PHD) is still concerned about Isla Vista as COVID-19 case numbers continue to grow.
There have been 397 cases of COVID-19 in Isla Vista since the start of the pandemic, approximately 4% of the county’s total case rate. There are currently 26 active cases that puts Isla Vista at the top of the list for the highest 7-day sum of cases within the county.
This is especially concerning given the Isla Vista population is significantly lower and outside of Isla Vista the county’s case rate has remained steady, said Nick Clay, Director of the Santa Barbara County Emergency Medical Services Agency.
“What happens next in Isla Vista is truly up to its residents, no matter how much we test, how much public education we send out, or how much the health officer’s order is enforced, the individuals in that community need to take appropriate action to stop the spread of COVID-19,” said Clay. “That means stop having parties, wear a mask, and don’t just practice social or physical distancing, do it.”
PHD partnered with UC Santa Barbara to ensure there’s enough testing for Isla Vista residents and students, as well as contact tracing and quarantine/isolation accommodations.
Currently, Santa Barbara county solidly remains in the red tier as the increase of cases in Isla Vista and Santa Maria has pushed the less-restrictive orange tier further away, said Santa Barbara County Supervisor Gregg Hart.
He also stated that anecdotally they have heard there were fewer gatherings last weekend and it could possibly be due to the news coverage about a spike in cases, but Halloween will be the biggest test.
UC Santa Barbara and various agencies have put together ideas to safely celebrate Halloween and some virtual options. A list of some of these can be found here.
Friday’s Numbers
PHD reports 26 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths on Friday.
Both individuals were residents of the City of Santa Maria. One individual was between the ages of 50-69 with underlying medical conditions. One individual was over 70 years of age without underlying medical conditions and was associated with an outbreak at a congregate facility.
The total death toll has now reached 128 in the county.
The grand total of COVID-19 cases is now 9,944 with 137 of those still active. There are 9 hospitalizations including 1 in the intensive care unit (ICU).
More data can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org/status-reports/.
Yep, our governor and the local minion Public Health players that follow his lead say it’s up to them – them! who? isla vista residents, that who. It “up to them”. So we’re all (businesses, schools, the public at large who are doing a GREAT job wearing masks) are being held hostage by a local mass of 19-21 year olds living out there – fooling around, hitting the beach, partying when there’s a kegger happening. News flash: THEY DONT CARE!
Thanks Gavin, and hey there’s an Honorable Mention to our local politicians as well (UCSB also gets a tip of the hat for being absent on this pm as usual, Chancellor that’s you). That’s a great plan for our future. I only wish we could’ve had Governor on the ballot this year.
We’re doing something that works. Quick! Let’s do something else!
The county should hold the students responsible, individually, with massive fines that escalate dramatically with each offence. Their parents can clearly afford it, since there are no in-person classes and these kids are spending over $1000/month to share a room—just for online classes. These party houses are basically entertainment venues, where it’s common to have bands set up on the lawns (pre-COVID) and play live music for gathering crowds. Therefore the county should also hold the landlords financially responsible for not ensuring their tenants are abiding by the same health orders that are crippling our local businesses. The landlords are making a killing renting out those dumps to the ClubEd tourists, so they can pay up too if they’re going to let these kids hold our county hostage with their increasing case numbers.
Lockdown those towns and leave the rest of us alone!! GN never had to work a day in his life so he is completely detached from reality! Makes it so easy for him to continue this BS! He needs to be ejected from his perceived throne!!!
What are you actually suggesting landlords do though ? When someone rents an apartment or house in IV, Goleta, the Mesa, San roque, etc… they have property rights whether they are a student, doctor, IT worker or a chemicalsuperfreak. You can argue it’s a police/public health issue… but There is an eviction moratorium… and yeah technically you can go health and safety, but that’s at best a 2-3 month process. So… what do you want landlords to do again? Because usually you are pretty logical, but this is an odd post seemingly encouraging a scenario in which landlords assume powers of the law and court that they thankfully don’t have.
Gov. Newsom’s kids have returned to in-person classes at their private school.
Tons of kids are back in school… and pretty much all research points to careless gatherings in homes as the spreading events. The Time to start school was yesterday…
Of course they have… just like the kids of our teachers and administrators. Everyone that can demand (or make private schools payments) have their kids in school for coming up on 2 months… it’s just us stiffs that get to work around, during, through and after the zoom class day circus…
The Long Beach school system just closed down for two weeks because Covid was spreading through the schools like wild fire.
“Like wildfire”? They had 7 students and 4 faculty across the entire district test positive… so They decided to close for 2 weeks. Exaggerate much…??
DUKE: I’m suggesting that the landlords pay a fine, along with the tenants, as they knowingly facilitate the behavior. About 10 years ago the county proposed the Social Host Ordinance to curb underage drinking in IV. An early draft of the ordinance held the landlords responsible for underage drinking, along with those who throw the party, because everyone knows what goes on at these parties. A similar ordinance can easily be passed as an addendum to the present ordinance, which according to EdHat currently “establishes administrative fines of $100, $200, and $500 for violating county health orders.” Noozhawk additionally states, “could result in a maximum $1,000 fine or a 90-day jail sentence…Local restaurants, bars, breweries and tattoo parlors could have their licenses suspended or revoked for alleged health order violations, or be charged fines, according to the county.” To be clear, I’m not favor of the jailtime because I think losing money is enough motivation. The point is, if they can put a local restaurant out of business for operating in violation of health orders, then the same rules should apply to everything from AirBnBs to IV rentals. The IV property owners are operating knowing full well what’s going on, and making money consequence free. Time to get rid of the consequence free part of the transaction and give them something to think about the next time they sign a lease with students who really have no reason to be living in IV this year, but are, to our detriment.
And it’s a school district with over 70,000 students… that’s more like a cheap match stuck box match lit and held for the 1/2 second it stayed lit in Siberia in February than a wildfire.
Then again its my guy generaltree… who never breaks character!!!! It’s amazing and should be celebrated! You’d think just by accident at some point there would be something innocuous or logical… but no… it’s all nutty all day/night…
Chem – So you are equating the ability of a business owner to mandate masks for the people who come into their shop to buy something, to landlords who rent houses and apartments on year long leases? Really??? Really!!!???? What tool of enforcement are you wanting to give landlords to, well LORD over someone else’s home (because when you rent a property, it’s yours in obviously many aspects)? Should landlords be able to lock someone immediately out of their house like a business owner turning away a shirtless or mask-less customer? You obviously can’t pass a housing law that targets a specific group, race or demographic so it would have to go much wider than just student housing. There are rightfully and thankfully quite strong laws against that. Your argument is not only ridiculous and dumb, but it’s dangerous. You strike me as an intelligent person, so take a step back and work out how you could possibly mandate this in a pandemic with an eviction moratorium. If police show up at a party or gathering, they can enforce laws and ordinances… but to expect and want landlords to do that is nutty. Thankfully California has quite a few laws so that tenants are protected from their landlords as what you are suggesting is scary crazy stuff.
Duke, as I stated, a similar ordinance was written and then revised 10 years ago in a desperate attempt to curb underage drinking at college parties, so it’s not as if there isn’t a precedent. At the very minimum, start handing out fines to the students and that will likely make a big impact in slowing the case spike in IV. You see, when there is zero enforcement—and we all continue to suffer the restrictions—it can make even grounded and logical people consider scary crazy stuff. I do appreciate your passionate arguments and the pushback on my heavy-handed idea.
@6:44 it’s now over 220 days to slow the spread that was supposed to be only 15 days. What exactly was working?
3:13: You really don’t understand how highly contagious viral epidemics behave.
More media lies and you believe everyone of them. Enjoy. There is absolutely no proof of that.
A disturbing article in the Daily Nexus that is worth a read.
https://dailynexus.com/2020-10-29/if-i-get-covid-now-i-dont-really-care-interviewing-passersby-and-partiers-in-i-v-during-the-pandemic/
Whatever rationale anyone might have for being a trumpsupporter – scepticism about Islam, incoming immigration, liberal-democratic detachment from the working class, cancell culture, anything-to-get-tax-cuts-and-stuff, suppression of free speech on the hard left, China China China – whatever your beef with Hilary and the Democratic Party – the 800-pound viral antigen stuck in the Statue of Liberty’s throat is that Donald Trump failed utterly to achieve a basic understanding of how to address coronavirus and policy at the Federal level has been so counterproductive that the USA, which has the world’s best health science infrastructure, has utterly botched the pandemic response. Such atrocities as Homeland Security actually interdicting hospital shipments of PPE, the muzzling of Dr. Fauci, the insane and idiotic statements by the President, the chlorine the hydrochloroquine the unrelenting BS…any true Republican would go with the Lincoln Project, vote for Biden, defeat the virus and rebuilt the party of Dwight Eisenhower and Ulysses S Grant back to what it once was, before it was hijacked by a con artist playboy.