Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Santa Barbara County racked up 960 new COVID-19 cases within the past week as officials plead with residents to stop gathering.
During Friday’s press conference, Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso had a stern message for the community stating she is concerned about how widespread the virus is within the county . “Do not let this holiday season be the last one some people have with their loved ones,” she said.
The data clearly shows the sharp rise of new cases is directly related to gatherings, Thanksgiving travel, and most recently the watching of sporting events, specifically Monday Night Football, said Do-Reynoso.
The county’s case rate increase four times since November, around the same level as when it peaked in July, and active cases have increased eightfold to the highest number ever experienced in this pandemic. The county is also experiencing the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since August.
Do-Reynoso stated in the first week of December there were eleven outbreaks in congregate living facilities and ten outbreaks at businesses.
County Remains Hopeful to Move Out of SoCal Region
Earlier this week, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to join San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties in sending Governor Gavin Newsom a letter asking for the tri-county area to be removed from the Southern California Region as part of the new Regional Stay at Home Order.
Officials have requested that if the collective three counties maintain more than 15% intensive care unit (ICU) capacity after the stay at home order that ends on December 28, the new “Central Coast Region” would revert back to the state’s original color-coded framework for a safe reopening.
Supervisor Gregg Hart stated Friday they have not heard back from the state but they remain hopeful and optimistic the Governor will respond favorably.
Representative Salud Carbajal was also in attendance during Friday’s press conference and expressed his support for the formation of the new region. He also provided an update on the federal stimulus package stating he’s part of a bipartisan caucus that plans on finalizing a stimulus package next week.
Rep. Carbajal and his wife both contracted COVID-19 by someone living in his building while in Washington D.C. Their initial tests produced negative results but they followed the advice of healthcare professionals and quarantined to be safe. Several days later Carbajal developed symptoms and both were retested producing positive results.
To this day Carbajal said he still gets bouts of fatigue and body aches, but “we were the lucky ones,” he said. “
Vaccine Distribution
Santa Barbara County is expecting 3,900 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine to arrive next week with 6,600 doses of Moderna’s vaccine to arrive following its approval, said Jan Koegler, Manager of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program.
The county is following the state’s guidance for priority distribution and all hospitals are expected to vaccinate their staff within the next two weeks.
More vaccines are expected to arrive in January and February.
Additional data on vaccine distribution and tiers can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org/covid-19-vaccine-information/.
Current COVID-19 Numbers
There were 960 new COVID-19 cases from December 5-11 and two additional deaths bringing the total to 140.
One individual was 50-69 years of age, with underlying health conditions, and resided in the community of Orcutt. The second death was 70+ years of age, resided in the community of Orcutt, and did not have any underlying health conditions. Neither death was associated with an outbreak at a congregate living facility.
There were 59 new cases reported Friday, 643 are active, or infectious, within the county. Of those, 64 are hospitalized including 13 in the ICU.
Santa Barbara County’s ICU availability is 31.90% where the Southern California ICU availability is 6.20%.
Ventura County reported 379 new cases on Friday with 5,099 cases still active and 9.2% ICU availability.
San Luis Obispo County reported 185 new cases on Friday with 1,191 cases still active and 87% ICU availability.
More information about Santa Barbara county’s data can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org.
Um… yes.
As of this afternoon – There are
651 total hospital beds available
420 are occupied
64 of the beds occupied are for Covid patients.
There are (now) 91 total ICU beds available
56 are occupied
13 of the beds occupied are for Covid patients.
There are 131 ventilators available
19 are in use
7 of those in use are for Covid patients.
Lots of other things going on. Wonder how many of those other beds/ICU beds/ ventilators are being used for the overdoses and suicide attempts, as the Cottage Hospital psychiatric beds are completely full and are having to turn people away who feel they need to be there…..
Even if we have the minimal 7 day waiting period, and not the 10 day waiting period… if you add 960 cases to what ever case load was already there… guess I’m just not mathing well.
On the up side – there are zero cases of the flu in town! So that’s a plus.
Typical comment of the far right – that everyone else is living in fear. Well played.
My neighbors, one of whom is a nurse, had a nice gathering yesterday, drinking, inside, outside, quite a few people. No masks. Cops won’t do anything but sheriff will.
I was in line at the grocery store today when I overheard two middle-aged men loudly discussing the BBQ they are throwing on W. Pedregosa Street this afternoon. One even took a call from another buddy and I proceeded hear him say, “ya everyone is coming, when you get off work pick up some beer, we’ll all be there for [insert name]’s birthday.” This is why our numbers continue to grow.
We’re adding almost a quarter-million cases a day, with over 3,000 deaths a day, and some fools still think it’s just a mild flu. There’s just no word for such abject ignorance.
Remember to stay absolutely terrified, everyone. Do not live your lives. Do not leave your houses. Do not speak to people, do not smile at them (through your mask, of course) and above all, do as you are told by the governor, who cares about your well being. I heard he gave up his salary in solidarity with all the business owners he has told are not allowed to work. He’s a swell guy. This is 100% about the virus.
5:44 So did you just say mask and distancing worked for the flu but not for Covid? You just proved the YOU don’t understand. Wake up sheep. Baaahhh.
The lockdown is driving up the numbers, it’s counter productive after 9 months of shutdowns & hypocrisy. More large get togethers under lockdown
It’s a casedemic. California’s cases are now 3X the summer peak but deaths are still on par with the summer peak, but we still have a couple weeks to see where deaths will peak at. Had the Spanish Flu occurred today, the equivalent US deaths would have totaled 2,000,000. The Spanish Flu indiscriminately killed the young, the old, the compromised, and the healthy. This virus tends to target elderly with compromised health. I think this summer we should have let the young and healthy get the virus and recover to get closer towards herd immunity. Instead the virus will rip through every demographic without any hindrance.