Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (PHD) is focusing on reducing COVID-19 cases in Isla Vista and announced four school reopenings during Friday’s press conference.
PHD is taking a “proactive approach” to reduce viral transmission in the densely populated student laden community next to UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), said Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg.
The university, its student health department, PHD, and other community partner organizations have banded together to educate students and residents on how to reduce the risk for contracting the contagious virus. Testing has also increased and moved to the Goleta Community Center making it more accessible to Isla Vista residents. Hotel rooms are also provided for safe isolation and quarantine if needed.
PHD Director Van Do-Reynoso confirmed that social gatherings continue to be an issue for spreading the virus in the community. In August the county’s contact tracers discovered a wide range of gatherings at beaches, lakes, bars/restaurants, birthday celebrations, funerals, and other social events continue to be the most significant factor of transmission.
School Waivers
Dr. Ansorg confirmed that as of Friday, four local schools were approved by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to reopen as soon as September 8. The four schools are:
- Howard Carden School, Carpinteria
- The Knox School, Santa Barbara
- Laguna Blanca, Santa Barbara
- Waldorf School, Goleta
In total, twenty applications have been accepted by PHD so far. Four are currently at CDPH for review and the remaining twelve are still being reviewed by PHD. None of the applications have been rejected thus far.
Friday’s Numbers
PHD reported 64 new cases on Friday bringing the county’s grand total to 8,361. Of those, 224 cases remain active or infectious.
There are currently 39 hospitalizations including 16 in the intensive care unit (ICU).
On Tuesday, the state is expected to release the county’s tier assignment from August 23-29, due to the seven day lag in calculations.
Do-Reynoso said the county’s case rates are decreasing but not sufficiently. The daily case rates should be around 32 to help the county move into the next tier.
More data can be viewed here: https://publichealthsbc.org/status-reports/
Waivers = Increased COVID -19 Spread. Once the schools open they won’t close. Meanwhile Isle Visit and other college communities are becoming COVID-19 hotspots. We can’t control this disease and protect our hospital system or vulnerable with decisions like these being made while we have ZERO enforcement. Stay tuned folks in 2-3 weeks we are going to see huge increases in cases due to the holiday, UCSB, SBCC, Westmont and other schools either opening or being a magnet for college students and their parties.
Waivers = immunity.
Immunity via death.
I’ve got two questions for you:
1. Are you people not bothered by the fact that, with a total of 39 people in the hospital in a county of a half million people and over 2,000 hospital beds empty, your tax dollars, 2.4 million of them, are going to remodel Sears La Cumbre Plaza into a Covid surge hospital?
2. Someone explain to me why people are walking alone (or with a partner) on the beach or walking their dog down the street with no one around for a hundred yards—-with masks? Driving in their cars, alone, with masks? Did I miss something that happened to panic people because I do not watch TV news?
So you ask two questions but your two questions are your uninformed opinion?
Waivers= normal people trying to get back to normal.
9:08 PM On question 2. We put our masks on in the house….you know, with clean hands…drive about doing errands…..Purelling or wearing gloves, depending, all the while…..then get back in the house and dump clothes and masks in the washer. Why would you want to touch the mask to take it off and put it back on….every time you get in your car….
As for question 1, the way people are behaving, we haven’t seen the worst of this pandemic yet.
Waivers = people who don’t understand the magnitude of the problem, but want instant gratification.
Yeah, why try to keep living when you can die a miserable death from COVID-19?
Poll of readers: Where schools are closed to in-person class, should parents get the education funds to spend on choice of tutoring, private school or home school?
73% Yes!;
25% Partly, also some money returned to taxpayers;
1% No, not a penny! (Cite: Sharyl Atkisson)
Those four schools are actually affordable, for those who choose and are able pay the tuition. No need to turn your nose up at them. They pay their own way. Which is a good thing.
Sometimes we put on our masks and then keep them on during beach walks. It’s just easier than putting the mask on again if strangers get close. But generally we take our masks off when we hit the sand. Depends on our moods. When walking in my neighborhood I keep my mask on because I’ve been surprised a couple times by unseen people sitting in cars who suddenly get out near me, or people who turn a corner and run into me. If you have a comfy mask it is no big deal to leave it on.
People in SB think they’ll live forever=ultra paranoid