Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
As of Tuesday, Santa Barbara County is officially inducted into the state’s orange tier allowing more businesses to open.
With an adjusted case rate of 4.5 per 100,000, a 1.8% positivity rate, and a 1.7% health equity positivity rate, the county joins the rest of Southern California in the orange. The only nearby county to be stuck in the red tier is San Luis Obispo.
The county’s case rate has been under 6 cases per every 100,000 residents for the last two weeks. To qualify for the Orange Tier, a region must have a case rate between 2 and 5.9 cases per every 100,000 residents.
With this new designation, all retail can open at 100% capacity, dining/museums/zoos/movie theatres can open at 50% indoor capacity, and gyms and fitness centers can increase to 25% indoor capacity.
Gathering restrictions are also less stringent with private outdoor events increasing to 100 people, or 150 people indoor with proof of negative COVID-19 tests/vaccinations, or 300 people outdoors with proof of vaccination/negative test results. Public events can be outdoor up to 50 people and indoor gatherings are ok with 25 people.
Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso stated the number of active cases decreased by 21% in the first two weeks of April. The biggest decrease came from Santa Maria while Goleta and Santa Ynez have remained flat.
“We have made significant progress in lowering our local case rate,” states Dr. Henning Ansorg, Health Officer for Santa Barbara County. “Every member of our community plays an important role in helping us achieve and continue to enjoy the benefits of loosening restrictions. We must continue to be mindful of safety practices including wearing masks, physically distancing, washing hands and getting vaccinated as soon as possible.”
More information can be found at publichealthsbc.org.
https://www.noozhawk.com/article/what_you_can_and_should_do_once_youve_been_fully_vaccinated
The rest of her story… ED got the first part and really the important part, but the rest is such jibberish. I’m starting to believe this whole government control crap!
Everyone can get a free Covid vaccine now. Let’s open up everything 100% and not cater to those who choose choose to remain unprotected.
If you’re against wearing masks to protect yourself and others, please just stay indoors, put on those buffalo hats, stand in front of your mirrors, and yell FREEDUMB!
220pm – The question isn’t about wearing masks…we should! But there is an end point…right? And if we are on a pathway to yearly booster shots for the rest of our lives…are we doing masks forever too?
I fully hope (and expect) that public health will come out and say masks are not needed outdoors shortly. In my opinion (and most scientific evidence) has shown that outdoor mask use is unnecessary. Seeing people on the beach still wearing masks shows the ignorance of the public and poor messaging by public health. Wearing masks indoors in public areas is not a big deal, but I do hope we get away from it eventually. COVID is here to stay. You either get it or you get the vaccine. At some point we need to stop protecting those people ignorant enough to choose COVID over a safe vaccine.
I hope masks become standard issue during flu season, too. It would be great if my coworker wore one whenever his kids are sick because that usually means he is getting sick too.
Pit – Masks For everyone (forever!!!) during flu season or just people feeling sick????
That’s been true all along. Read this:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7680614/
There is zero science behind continuing to wear a mask once one is vaccinated.
zero science to prevent the spread of germs through a sneeze, cough, saliva, or breath? okie dokie….wow…
Yes. Wow. Read the link I posted. There is no reason, once one is vaccinated. Further, the cons of masks far outweigh the pros.
@Nonbidenary: True to form, spreading anti-mask misinformation. Sigh.
Hey Nonie,
So what’s your professional recommendation?… ur a professional aren’t you?
To all readers: BigUgly believes that a scientific study conducted by a credentialed scientist and published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information is “misinformation”. Please keep this in mind every time BigUgly posts something!
Zero? Chances of getting and spreading covid after vaccination are low but not zero. Masks are mostly to stop you from spreading it. How many times have I written that statement on Edhat?
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/19/cdc-says-there-have-been-less-than-6000-breakthrough-covid-cases-among-fully-vaccinated-americans.html
So booster shots AND masks forever…????
OMG…… (face palm) Even thinking we should wear masks forever should be a flashing red light that you don’t have an accurate understanding of risk, statistics, negative aspects of masks, and the actual danger covid presents.