SANTA BARBARA COUNTY TO RESCIND INDOOR MASK ORDER BY FEBRUARY 16
Source: Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department will rescind Health Officer Order No. 2022 – 10 effective Wednesday, February 16, 2022, in alignment with the State’s Health Officer Order. Local guidance will defer to State guidance for use of face coverings. Universal masking will remain required in specified settings including, but not limited to, public transit, indoors in K-12 schools, childcare, shelters, healthcare settings, correctional facilities, and other care facilities. Only unvaccinated persons will be required to mask in all indoor public settings. Fully vaccinated individuals will be recommended to continue masking in public indoor settings. For full guidelines, visit the California Department of Public Health’s Guidance for the Use of Face Masks.
In closely analyzing recent data trends, along with the characteristics of the Omicron variant circulating, County Public Health officials have determined that aligning with the State on universal indoor masking is appropriate. While the Omicron variant has proved to be more transmissible than previous variants, it has also resulted in shorter periods of illness, fewer hospitalizations, and a lower death count for fully vaccinated community members.
“Our community has endured through 23 months of the COVID-19 pandemic and we have learned how best to protect ourselves,” shared County Public Health Director Van DoReynoso. “Vaccination, including receiving a booster, and testing will continue to diminish the spread of this virus, especially as we continue to move past the surge caused by the Omicron variant.”
Although masking requirements for indoor public settings are being rescinded, community members are highly encouraged to consider their personal risk in the months ahead as the virus continues to circulate, even at lower levels. A layered approach to protecting yourself and others is best. Consider masking in crowded areas where vaccination status is unknown. If you are sick, stay home for the duration of your illness and get tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms. If you are immunocompromised or care for someone that is, weigh your risk in attending large gatherings. Ensure indoor gatherings are well ventilated. Stay informed of case rates as you travel to other areas and take appropriate measures.
“We are calling upon our community to act in the best interest of themselves and their neighbors,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, County Health Officer. “We are now on the downslope of the recent surge as evidenced by our lowering case rate and test positivity along with stable hospitalizations. We have considered how the dominant variant circulates and what effects it has, and have determined we are in a place to be able to lift the universal indoor masking requirement.”
The risk for severe illness remains high among those that are unvaccinated in our community. From available local data, persons who are unvaccinated are 5.7 times more likely to contract COVID-19, 3.4 times more likely to be hospitalized for severe illness, and 8.1 times more likely to die than persons that are up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccines.
Opportunities for first, second, and booster doses remain broadly available countywide. Visit https://publichealthsbc.org/vaccine/ to find a location near you today.
Business owners and local employers should continue referencing Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Guidance and Resources for their industry.
For more information about the COVID-19 response in Santa Barbara county, including testing sites, isolation and quarantine guidance, and data, visit https://publichealthsbc.org/
Comments Penalty Box
7 Comments deleted due to down vote
18 Comments deleted by Administrator
107 Comments
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Feb 10, 2022 11:48 AMMirror mirror on the wall, what to do about the election this fall…
*poof* Covid is gone
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Feb 10, 2022 11:52 AMIs it blissful navigating through life with such shallow and cynical thoughts?
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Feb 10, 2022 11:55 AM"Covid is gone." Nope, not at all. Still killing friends and family members on a daily basis.
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Feb 10, 2022 12:02 PMExactly my point Sac. They said no removal unless under 6 per 100k. We are at 80 per 100k. So what event coming up could they POSSIBLY be worried about? Hint hint… it’s always about power
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Feb 10, 2022 12:11 PM"We are at 80 per 100k." ConservatveBS doesn't seem to understand enough hard math to get that modeling shows a return to almost 6 percent in coming weeks.
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Feb 10, 2022 12:16 PMCONSERVATIVESB: Possibly a couple of things:
County said no removal until 6 per 100k in November. November was Delta. Delta was (in hindsight), not as transmissible, but also a serious disease.
Here we are in Feb, with Omicron. From above: " it has also resulted in shorter periods of illness, fewer hospitalizations, and a lower death count for fully vaccinated community members."
TLDR, the virus has changed, and so have the methods of dealing with it...
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Feb 10, 2022 12:25 PMSo lockdowns only helped .2% and the virus followed the same path as every other virus in the history of the world? Weird…
Only in blue states and counties are the methods changing
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Feb 10, 2022 12:31 PMMM1970 No use in responding to conservativesb - he makes an illogical statement - someone retorts with facts - then he moves the target and makes a different illogical statement usually including whataboutisms and gas lighting. Sadly it's what republicans do now a days to avoid actual discourse.
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Feb 10, 2022 08:01 PM12:25 - Still getting your medical advice from right-wing social media? Here's the real deal on your fallacious 0.2% claim:
https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/claims
-johns-hopkins-study-showed-lockdowns-
ineffective-reducing-covid-19-mortality-based-
working-paper-questionable-methods-fox-
news-daily-mail/
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Feb 10, 2022 11:51 AMLet the comments from the far-right peanut gallery commence. Repubs are angry if there is a mask mandate - they will find something to be angry about if there is no mask mandate.
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Feb 10, 2022 12:07 PMWow, even our county officials have abandoned the science for political expediency. This reckless policy change will likely cost countless lives. What are we doing, following Florida’s lead with our covid policy? It’s amazing what an election will do. Here is the latest take on the sudden covid policy reversal from politico.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/10/democrats-ditch-masks-covid-rules-omicron-00007815
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Feb 10, 2022 12:15 PMFlorida Covid Deaths 66k
California Covid Deaths 82k
Florida population 21 million
California population 39 million
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Feb 10, 2022 12:31 PMCrazy times. Hopefully this we’ll help open peoples eyes. Doubt it though, the virus will virus and the sheep will continue grazing in ignorant bliss.
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Feb 10, 2022 01:10 PMVOICE OF CHIP - how are we "sheep?" We choose to wear masks in indoor situations when vaccination status can't be determined. We do what we can to avoid catching and spreading a deadly virus. Those of us who now choose to continue making an effort to protect our loved ones are apparently "anti-science" as you would say, so how does that make us "sheep?"
BTW, rather be a sheep than someone who steals others comments as claims them as their own. Rather be a sheep than someone who upvotes racist comments. Rather be a sheep than whatever it is you call yourself. Bahh! Bah!
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Feb 10, 2022 01:32 PMVOICE OF CHIP - it's really something to see you disparage (well, in your mind at least) those of us who choose to continue wearing masks. Why don't you just let others do as they want? Isn't that what you've been demanding and ranting about for the last 2 years?
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Feb 10, 2022 02:01 PMSheep dose with Ivermectin. Sheep ban books in schools. Sheep back election lies and defend the violent attack on the seat of government.
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Feb 10, 2022 02:02 PMThose are telling no's if that is true.
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Feb 10, 2022 02:14 PMI don't see why anyone cares if people want to choose to mask for as long as they feel comfortable...but we need to quickly change things so people don't have to mask if they don't want to. And I really really want to stop forcing my kids to wear masks at school for 7 hours...that's just brutal...
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Feb 10, 2022 02:35 PMGT - The vaccine is key...and California is doing better on that. However it's a somewhat misleading stat as Florida has a much high percentage of older people (which, as we all know is who disproportionally dies from COVID). What's sad is that pre-vaccine, Florida was actually doing better if you break COVID down by age. Now, Florida is doing worse, though less than what your numbers (without actually diving into them) would imply.
Florida - 21.3% of population over 65
California - 15.2% of population over 65
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-age.html
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Feb 10, 2022 03:31 PMThey actually erred in Florida's favor, at least according to today's totals. Per capita, Florida's policies have killed more of their citizens. Trying to whitewash it by claiming demographic differences doesn't add up.
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Feb 10, 2022 04:41 PMPeople's eyes have been opened to what unscrupulous sludge "conservatives", right wingers, and Republicans are.
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Feb 10, 2022 05:09 PMIt’s worse than that marcel. Early in the pandemic, courageous leaders like governor Cuomo took bold action to protect us from covid. Now, even in California, governor newsom and our other great state leaders have bowed to the pressure to abandon the life saving measures that are protecting us from covid. They didn’t bow to conservatives, they bowed to the Democrats who elected them. It is the moderate Democrats who have forced this change. Unfortunately, most Democrats are little better than the “unscrupulous sludge” you speak of and lack the education and sophistication to follow through with the policies that have helped protect us all.
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Feb 10, 2022 07:11 PMDuke whitewashing Republican sludge.
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Feb 10, 2022 07:15 PMBreak down florida by age? Dude, people died.
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Feb 10, 2022 07:49 PMSac- It's always good to accept who/what you are. What racist comments are being upvoted in this thread? Just curious...
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Feb 10, 2022 07:53 PMOGSB - see deleted comments. It was upvoted twice before rightfully being removed.
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Feb 11, 2022 11:37 AMGT - Yes, a lot of older people died. It's tragic. Had more of them been vaccinated, more would be alive today. But, at the same time, it obviously does make sense that Florida would have a higher death rate considering the older population of Florida. To ignore that is, well it's ridiculous.
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Feb 11, 2022 11:38 AMHopefully people see how utterly dishonest both political parties are...and especially the fringes on the far left and far right are.
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Feb 11, 2022 01:49 PMWhile COVID-19 deaths are usually adjusted for state population (deaths per 100,000), they are usually not adjusted for the age distribution of a state. It’s important to adjust for age when considering state-to-state differences in outcomes as age is the dominant risk factor for death provided someone is infected with COVID, and state age distributions vary considerably. In the following analysis, we present age-adjusted cumulative COVID-19 deaths and rank each state accordingly.
https://www.bioinformaticscro.com/blog/states-ranked-by-age-adjusted-covid-deaths/
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Feb 11, 2022 01:51 PMAdjusted for age, Florida did better than CA even with the polar opposite approaches. The politicians who put and maintained these unscientific and ineffective policies in place need to be held accountable.
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Feb 11, 2022 01:54 PMWhy are you still complaining about age? Who cares? An old person's death is just as important as a young person's death. Your insistence that we take age into account really does nothing.
Also, if you're going to simply copy/paste other people's words into "your" comment, do them the dignity of using quotation marks. You've been doing this a lot.
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Feb 11, 2022 02:19 PMPer capita, Florida killed more of their citizens, and the disparity widened hugely if you only look at the time since omicron. Those are the facts, and trying to whitewash them with demographic excuses doesn't work.
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Feb 11, 2022 02:31 PMSac - We actually as a society put a higher importance and level of tragedy on childrens deaths, and rightly so. All death is tragic, but if we are comparing cutting a life short by a year or by 80 years, obviously the 80 years is "more important". It's why in medical procedures we prioritize expected years of life...
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Feb 11, 2022 02:52 PMIf we're trying to look at the success (or complete lack thereof) of heavily mandated and restricted CA vs. the complete opposite in FL, you need to account for covid's drastically stratified outcomes based on age. If the age demographics were the same, or covid didn't disproportionately impact the elderly, you wouldn't have to adjust for age when comparing outcomes.
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Feb 11, 2022 08:11 PMThey had a higher death rate. Florida state government didn't even try. In fact they lied or hid numbers. The current surgeon general is anti vaxxer. He let Delta run wild. It's disgusting.
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Feb 11, 2022 09:41 PMGT - We tried and didn’t accomplish much. The vaccine helped, everything else… not so much.
Comparing by age… it’s pretty close. Staying completely open (but vaccinating) was the plan/win. Florida needed to get our vaccination rate, or we needed to get Florida's wide open.
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Feb 10, 2022 12:20 PMQuestion: Didn't the press release from the other day say unvaccinated people were 30 times more likely to die of Covid? 8.1 times is obviously still a massive number (and a reason for people who haven't had COVID or been vaccinated to get vaccinated)...but how did it go from 30 times to 8.1 times in 2 days?
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Feb 10, 2022 01:52 PMIt depends on the community. 8.1 more times in Santa Barbara. In Texas it's 20-40 times more likely. In Minnesota it was hovering around 30 this fall.
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Feb 11, 2022 03:04 PMMakes sense when you consider co-morbidities.
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Feb 10, 2022 12:29 PMCan we please now end the mask mandate when we come back from Spring Break...please??? That will neatly and nicely round out a full year of no school and a full year of masked school. It's time...
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Feb 10, 2022 12:42 PMWe should be removing the kids masks first, not last. Unfortunately the kids can’t vote and don’t donate millions of dollars to politician campaigns like the teachers union do.
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Feb 10, 2022 12:49 PMVOR - It will be interesting to see how long the school boards delay making a decision. They obviously kicked the can of opening for many many many months...let's see how long it takes them on this. I'm guessing Spring Break...
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Feb 10, 2022 01:53 PMRepublicans are too busy banning the books they read to care about their health.
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Feb 10, 2022 01:56 PMPerhaps they are waiting for the state to change the mask guidelines for k-12?
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Feb 10, 2022 05:20 PMDUKE - just got an email from GUSD saying masks are still required. Let's see how the numbers move, if at all, now that everywhere else is alloed to be mask free. Who knows, maybe the schools are making a wise choice?
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Feb 10, 2022 12:42 PMI’ll continue to wear a mask in the near future and avoid Conservative BS, for both my physical and mental health.
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Feb 10, 2022 12:51 PMI can promise you, he agrees with your decision
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Feb 10, 2022 01:34 PMCOVID is not gone, nor is it endemic (by the scientific definition). Maybe one day it will become endemic, that will depend on mutations. BA.2, the stealth one, is our newest one to watch. Count me in on continuing to wear a mask, N95 and KF94.
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Feb 10, 2022 02:05 PMMad - There is near absolute consensus that COVID will be endemic. Please do continue to mask if it makes you feel better...but masking our kids shouldn't make you feel better.
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Feb 10, 2022 03:12 PMThe epidemiological definition of endemic. You know, like polio and smallpox used to be.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00155-x
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