Edhat Staff
Source: Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (PHD) is reporting that an additional resident has died of COVID-19. The person who died was in their 60s and had underlying health conditions. This South County resident was hospitalized and succumbed to their illness. As of today, there are 174 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“Public Health shares our deepest condolences with the family and friends of this community member,” said Santa Barbara County Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg. “We continue to ask for the support of every resident as we move forward and get through this difficult time. Only with the help of every person in our community will we make a difference in slowing the spread of this virus.”
Community members are reminded to take measures to prevent the spread of respiratory illness:
- Stay home except for essential tasks
- When engaging in essential tasks away from home, remain 6 feet away from others
- Wash your hands with soap and water
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick
- Keep surfaces clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant
Information for the six new confirmed cases can be found below.
Ages of new confirmed cases reported:
|
0-17 |
0 |
|
18-29 |
1 |
|
30-49 |
1 |
|
50-69 |
4 |
|
70+ |
0 |
Locations of new cases reported:
|
South County Unincorporated Area includes communities of Montecito, Summerland and the City of Carpinteria |
1 |
|
City of Santa Barbara and the unincorporated area of Mission Canyon |
0 |
|
City of Goleta |
1 |
|
Community of Isla Vista |
0 |
|
Unincorporated Area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota |
0 |
|
Santa Ynez Valley including the Cities of Solvang & Buellton, and the communities of Santa Ynez, Los Alamos, Los Olivos and Ballard |
0 |
|
City of Lompoc and the communities of Mission Hills and Vandenberg Village |
0 |
|
City of Santa Maria |
4 |
|
Community of Orcutt |
0 |
|
Unincorporated Areas of Sisquoc, Casmalia, Garey, Cuyama, New Cuyama, and the City of Guadalupe |
0 |
Of the 174 cases, 103 are recovering at home, 27 persons are recovering in a hospital, 19 of which are in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 40 have fully recovered, and two (2) are pending an update. Two (2) deaths have been reported.
PHD is prioritizing investigations for cases with exposures in healthcare and other congregate settings to identify persons who may have been exposed. Mandated social distancing measures are in place to slow the spread of the virus.
Please visit Santa Barbara County’s coronavirus web page for more resources and updates at https://publichealthsbc.org/.
Stay Connected:
County Public Health: www.PublicHealthSBC.org, Twitter and Facebook
County of Santa Barbara: www.CountyofSB.org, Twitter, Facebook
County Information Line: (833) 688-5551, 9 a.m.- 6 p.m.
2-1-1 Call Center: Dial 211 or outside the area, call (800) 400-1572
Recorded Information Line: (805) 681-4373
Behavioral Wellness 24/7 Access Line: (888) 868-1649 Community Wellness Team: (805) 364-2750
Nationally, the cases reported on World of Metrics this morning dropped as well on Sunday versus Saturday. Perhaps the doom and gloom and number of cases won’t be as severe as reported by the IHME on March 26. If we have 174 cases among 445,000 SB County residents, that is .004% – an extremely low and encouraging number IMHO. The two deaths reported so far are extremely saddening and unfortunate, but we should keep in mind that is .00004% – vastly different and thankfully far less than what some of the pundits were predicting.
Not sure we should get too excited yet, could be many reasons for the 60% decrease. Even so, at what point are we “all clear” again? Even if the numbers go down, it’s still a threat to thousands of at risk people in our community!
Those numbers are all illusory because of the lack of testing.
Not only that, 88, but many studies are now saying that anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 of people with coronavirus have no symptoms. Assuming it’s safe to say that people who are asymptomatic are not getting tested, the percentage of people dying from this virus is even lower.
But the severity is a crapshoot, so minimizing infection by social distancing is the best approach.
Blackbar 1:34 pm: “Those numbers are illusory” because they are probably far less “because of the lack of testing”, rather than higher as I think you are suggesting.
The number of deaths attributed to the virus is also understated, which you are ignoring. Wthout testing, they are just attributed to the underlying condition.
They’ve reopened their wet markets, too. Short memories over there, I guess. And the advice for Americans to restrict or stop buying China-made goods will probably be short-lived as well, I’m afraid to say.
I couldn’t agree more. This county and infact the whole country lacks leadership. Its a circus. Its a freaking pandemic! People are dying!! Some Santa Barbara/Goleta residents are acting like they are on vacation. I understand that people have needs and people depend on their jobs. But surfing? Jogging? Getting together outdoors? If you are not afraid then volunteer at the hospitals! Be at the front line instead of risking peoples life.