One Death and 50 New COVID-19 Cases Announced

I've been wondering that as well, so I've been recording the number of test reported per day, and it hasn't fluctuated much. In fact, today's total is a bit on the low side. Here are the tests/day for the past 5 days, beginning Monday: 417, 671, 553 536, and 461. The average is 528 with a SD of +/- 87 (16%). For comparison, the cases in Santa Maria for the past 5 days, beginning Monday: 5, 16, 10, 11, 45. The average for that is 17 with a SD of +/- 14 (82%). The two sets of data are not correlated, and it really appears they have a serious problem up there.

I have no idea what it’s like in Santa Maria, but the chronically elevated cases up there suggest lessened social distancing and other protective measures. 45 cases seems like a jump well above the trend line. I’d give it a couple days, but I have a bad feeling about it. In looking at lots of charts, there can be very high one day spikes followed by the normal low count days. Between people getting sick of the lockdown and all these protest gatherings we may be headed into a nasty turn of events.

I stopped in Santa Maria last week to get gas. They are much more relaxed on their protocols. This increase is no surprise to me after what I saw. 10-15 people in a gas station convenience store without a mask and all 4 employees not wearing masks. This is anecdotal evidence but evidence none the less.

Yes, it's anecdotal, but informative none the less. Conversely, Goleta has had very few numbers, and I see people wearing masks everywhere and maintaining a good distance from one another. The City of Santa Barbara has had more cases than Goleta, and from those posted photos of Downtown, with lots of unmasked people, I guess it's anecdotally suggestive as well.

Where did you get the number of cases for SM? The article I see only states the number of cases for the county.

a-1591423227. You can get the breakdown by city on the Santa Barbara county public health page. Lots more info than provided in news articles.

10:55 p.m. There is a link to the County Public Health page in this article. It has the breakdown of the daily cases by age, city, etc.

@10:55pm: To get the daily cases by city, first click on the publichealthsb.org website, then you have to click on the “Status Reports” icon. Then you should see “Geographic Area” table with the first column the new cases for each city in our county. Sometimes the link to the public health website isn’t in the daily article, so just go to an older article which is what I do sometimes.

Good I’m glad that guy finally realized we can’t stay closed forever, most of us understand that. Santa Barbara had its usual 2 cases which is where I live and my main concern. No spike here.

If people are allowed to crowd the streets and protest, shouting and spreading aerosolized droplets everywhere, then the entire city, state, and country should be opened up completely. No double standards.

From the Indy article on the latest status report: "Next week will reveal if the Memorial Day opening of many Santa Barbara businesses is leading to a new spike in cases, Ansorg went on, noting the approximately 14-day incubation period of the virus. He said recent protests and rallies over the death of George Floyd could cause additional spread, but he was quick to note that “most protesters are behaving very responsibly with wearing masks and keeping at least some distance between each other.”"

Superfreak, you didn't have a problem when the anti-mask people protested.

Actually, I did post several articles regarding the efficiency of various materials used for homemade masks, as well as a study comparing the efficiencies of N95 versus surgical masks. Are you suggesting that I'm anti-mask?

Nice dodge away from explaining your double standard over which demonstrators to complain about.

MAC: You said it, the protesters have double standards. Thanks for agreeing for a change.

How so? The anti-mask demonstrators, obviously, wore no masks. You didn't peep. The anti-racism protestors wore masks and socially distanced. You accused them of not doing so, and potentially spreading the virus. Sound pretty double standard to me, basing medical criticisms on your con politics.

8:06 hang in there! Let us know your shops name so we can come and support you once you’ve opened. We have to work together.

We all share responsibility for the destruction of our businesses and the livelihoods of so many families. We should never have allowed the shut down to continue for so long. Tear off the masks, go out, and spend money at local businesses! Hopefully we can save the businesses that have manages to hang on and start the long process of economic recovery.

How many people have corona virus protesters murdered? How many people have corona virus protesters attacked and injured? How many buildings did the corona virus protestors loot, burn, and vandalize? I think that has a lot to do with the amount of police presence responding to the riots now compared to the protests then.

Oh Chip, so naive. It is so hard for some people to accept the racist framework the current policing style is based on in many places. Why? Does your username mean you are a CHP officer?

Chip. How many people have corona virus protesters murdered? 0 How many people have the BLM /Floyd protesters murdered? 37 murders and 2-3 thousands injured.

Just because you failed to mention it:
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/501388-cities-removed-police-officers-excessive-force-george-floyd

the goal is to fight all causes of death as best we can. just because more people die from heart disease doesnt somehow make coronavirus not coronavirus. but go ahead and run around without your mask and get all up in peoples faces do your thing

You can have gatherings, socialize without masks, etc. the new rules simply require you to articulate that whatever you are doing is a protest for a left wing cause. Instead of hosting a concert, call it the “defund the police department” protest/fundraiser concert and you are good to go. Just have to adapt to the changing times.

Your reasoning seems to be like a kid who was forced to use an umbrella in the rain. You didn’t get wet, so obviously the umbrella wasn’t necessary. Maybe the reason we’ve had relatively few deaths is *because* we shut down? It’s true, the authorities didn’t and still don’t know exactly the right thing to do. We are opening up substantially. We’ll see what happens.

YES, Achchoo, great analogy!!!

AHCHOOO, I'm in agreement with 2:32 PM, great analogy! To put things into perspective, the average deaths per day from COVID-19 is 2,309, as of May 22. HIV/AIDS is 2,110. Seasonal flu is 1, 027 without any Herculean efforts beyond a sometimes effective vaccine. The only contagious diseases with more deaths/day are Hepatitis B (2,430) and Tuberculosis (3,014). Clearly, COVID-19 is a problem in many places, despite our great fortune in the southern end of SB County. Minimizing the danger is totally foolish, but so is keeping everyone in perpetual lockdown. The best thing is herd immunity, assuming no serious mutations that enable the virus to evade the immune system or worse---another recombination in a host that is infected with something worse. I'm definitely not an anti-vaxer and have had every know vaccination, due in part to my work with blood born pathogens, but I will not be the first in line for the COVID-19 shot. You're right, the authorities don't know what to do, and neither do I. It's just best that we open up cautiously.

I guess Santa Maria did more Memorial Day partying than SB. Hence the spike, only in north county.

No I V ?

CSF , do you have an opinion this ?"The scientists at ASU said that they had detected a gene deletion in one sample from several hundred Arizona patients that potentially reduced the fitness of the disease. Notably, they claimed it was similar to a deleted sequence observed in the 2003 SARS virus that was observed near the end of that disease's epidemic—possibly signaling that COVID-19 may be bound for a similar fate".

@CHELSEA: That's a pretty interesting deletion. The affected protein is called ORF7a, and you can see an X-ray diffraction structure of it here (http://www.rcsb.org/3d-view/6W37/1). ORF7a is a Type 1 transmembrane protein that associates itself into the plasma membrane of the host cell, as well as an organelle inside the cell called the Golgi Apparatus. If you look at the structure you'll see several green arrows, which are cartoon representations of beta sheets. You can of course change the representation on the side panel to show that actual atoms, but that's not important. Note how the beta sheets arranged into a motif known as a beta-sandwich, which allows the protein to fit between the lipids that make up membranes. The mutation (deletion) removes two of those sheets, which you can see for yourself by mousing over the sequence above the structure, which starts with ELYH...and continue until you reach the LL at postion 16, just before K17. That's what's missing. The function of ORF7a, on behalf of the virus, is to hang out in the plasma membrane and prevent BST2 (Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Antigen 2) from tethering newly formed virions to the membrane so they don't escape. ORF7a also has the ability to cause apoptosis, which is programmed cell death. So these missing beta sheets may mean that you have a defective ORF7a, which would mean that BST2 would function to prevent the virus from spreading rapidly though the host, possibly giving time for the immune system to knock down the infection. In other words, SARS-CoV-2 will become less deadly.

Thanks CSF, I'll take that as great news. Hopefully the little buggers bio-clock is ticking down. Fingers crossed .

On Friday, Newsom’s California Health and Human Services (CHHS) Secretary Dr. Mark Gahly announced that schools, campgrounds, movie and tv productions, zoos, gyms, bars, and professional sports could reopen under strict rules and alterations beginning on June 12th, California Globe reported. The advanced Phase 3 reopenings would also include updated rules for already partially reopened places such as hotels, museums, and casinos.
“According to Dr. Gahly, counties will only be allowed to move up to the advanced Phase 3 if coronavirus cases remain low, adequate testing is done, and that counties have shown that they are prepared for a greater number of re-openings, as well as being prepared for upticks in the number of cases in case of another outbreak.” Even the 4 Seasons Biltmore will reopen 6-15.

Here’s the June 12 opening order from the State of CA: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR20-113.aspx

LOL Opening bars and schools... interesting Headline...

There is negligible community spread occurring on the south coast from Goleta to Carp: only two cases reported on Friday. The vast majority of south coast cases are already recovered. Take standard precautions while shopping, use hand sanitizer immediately upon exiting the store before you touch your face, and you’ll be fine. I’ve been in nearly every store from Goleta to Smart & Final on the lower east side, but my preference is TJs on De La Vina and Calle Real in Goleta. They seem to be the most conscientious in terms of sanitary precautions.

Thx Shasta Guy :)