Santa Barbara County is expected to advance to the less restrictive red level on Tuesday, Department of Public Health officials said at Friday’s COVID-19 virtual press conference.
“This will bring us new opportunities to open businesses and entertainment,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county’s public health officer, for moving to the second most restrictive category. “It also presents us with a challenge to continue to be safe and not fall into another wave of viruses.”
The indoor operations of fitness centers and gyms, restaurants, cinemas, aquariums, museums and zoos are allowed with changes in the red level, according to the state reopening framework COVID-19, Plan for a Safer Economy.
At the red level, wineries, breweries and distilleries in Santa Barbara County will only be allowed to operate outdoors with underlined changes to the classification system, including limited hours for service and a 90-minute time limit for guests, including others.
All 58 counties fall into California’s color-coded tier system, which is a four-tier classification framework. Santa Barbara County is in the “widespread” purple level, the most restrictive level.
Ansorg’s comments during Friday’s press conference, which marked the one-year anniversary of the county’s first COVID-19 press conference, came shortly after state officials announced that California had reached 2 million doses vaccination in vaccine equity metrics.
Two million doses of the vaccine were given to the hardest hit communities, representing about 25 percent of eligible people in California, according to state officials.
As a result, the plan for a more secure economy of levels has been updated to allow for “slightly higher case rates at the substantial (red) level,” the state said.
The criteria for reopening levels will change when 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to people living in approximately 400 postcodes in the vaccine equity quartile.
Purple criteria for case rates will change from more than seven new cases a day to 100,000 people to more than 10 new cases of COVID-19 a day, said County Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso.
Criteria for the rate of red cases will be extended to four to 10 cases per day per 100,000 people, and the orange and yellow levels will remain the same, Do-Reynoso said.
The county must be at a level for three consecutive weeks before officially advancing to the red level, Do-Reynoso said.
The latest level award shows Santa Barbara County at an adjusted rate of 9.7 cases per day, so the county can advance to the red level now that the state has reached the threshold of 2 million vaccine doses.
To advance to the less restrictive red level, the county must meet the test positivity rate for that level for two consecutive weeks. Santa Barbara County has a positivity rate of 3.6%.
COVID-19 County values have dropped substantially, including the number of active cases, daily new cases, testing for COVID-19 positivity, the rate of cases, hospitalized positive coronavirus patients and the death rate, Do-Reynoso said.
“The winter increase in cases is over,” Do-Reynoso said Friday.
The county reported receiving more than 117,700 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to date, Do-Reynoso said, adding that as of Friday, the county has administered more than 80 percent of the doses allocated so far. She noted that vaccination data are three days apart.
“The remaining doses are scheduled for clinics in the next few days,” Do-Reynoso said Friday.
Santa Barbara County vaccinates people age 65 and older, along with agriculture and food workers, educators and child care workers, emergency workers, residents 75 years of age or older, health care workers. emergency and health workers.
Starting Monday, people between the ages of 16 and 64 who are at increased risk of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 will be eligible to receive the vaccine in the county. Health conditions listed in the county guidelines include cancer, chronic kidney disease in stage four or more, chronic lung disease, Down syndrome, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, heart disease, severe obesity, and type 2 diabetes, among others. .
“Every time eligibility opens, the supply of vaccines is still limited initially and more will be available in the coming weeks,” Do-Reynoso said. “Please be patient as we open up vaccination opportunities for other categories in our community.”
According to Ansorg, Santa Barbara County currently has about 10 percent of its population 18 years of age or older who are completely vaccinated against COVID-19.
“And given or taken, 15% received at least one dose, which already provides good protection against severe COVID and death,” Ansorg said.
The county is home to more than 446,000 residents, according to the latest US Census Bureau population estimate.
The next two to three weeks are expected to be “challenging,” as the number of weekly vaccines available for Santa Barbara County is unlikely to increase, while more residents will become eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, Ansorg said.
By April, we should see a dramatic increase in available vaccines, and hopefully by May, anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get it, Ansorg said.
The county is moving the COVID-19 mobile test unit to Santa Barbara
To expand access to COVID-19 testing for residents, the Department of Public Health will move the COVID-19 mobile testing unit to Santa Barbara’s East Beach starting Monday.
The unit will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday in the waterfront parking lot at 1118 E. Cabrillo Blvd. in Santa Barbara.
Meetings are required, and testing is free and available to all community members.
Appointments can be made online at https://lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 888.634.1123.
The Department of Public Health website – https://publichealthsbc.org/testing/ – contains more information about local testing options. Residents can also call 2-1-1 for assistance in registering for a test meeting.
“Being tested means detecting where the virus is spreading and ending it. We know that our community is eager to move forward, and testing is a key tool for this to happen. Lowering our case rate will allow our community to move faster through the levels and begin reopening more business sectors and schools, ”Do-Reynoso said in a statement. “The mobile testing site is a great way for community members to easily access COVID-19 testing while enjoying great views.”
The new COVID-19 status report of Santa Barbara County
Meanwhile, county public health officials reported 54 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, and two other residents of North County died of COVID-19.
There were a total of 32,573 confirmed positive cases in the county, and the number of COVID-19 deaths now stands at 428, according to the COVID-19 community data dashboard.
Both residents who died were in the over-70 age group and had underlying medical conditions, according to Public Health. The people who died lived in Lompoc and Santa Maria. The deaths were not associated with an outbreak at a congregated place of care, according to the county.
There were 43 confirmed COVID-19 patients who were treated in hospitals in Santa Barbara County. Of these patients, 15 were in intensive care units.
The county has been operating at more than 31% ICU availability since Friday, according to Public Health.
Of the new positive cases on Friday, Santa Maria had 26, and four were reported in Santa Barbara and Orcutt. Three were reported each in the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria, Goleta, Santa Ynez Valley, Lompoc area and in the unincorporated areas of North County. The unincorporated area of the Goleta and Gaviota Valley had two new cases, and Isla Vista had one. Geographical locations were not released for two new cases.
According to Public Health, there were about 255 community cases still considered infectious throughout the county.
It is almost a year since the first confirmed case of the new coronavirus in Santa Barbara County. The county’s first COVID-19 case was reported on March 15, 2020, and the first local death was announced in April.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department reported Friday that the number of active COVID-19 cases among inmates in the main prison has dropped to zero.
“All COVID-19 cases in the main prison have been resolved and no positive COVID-19 detainees are currently being monitored,” said Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Raquel Zick.
As of Friday, more than 210 detainees from the main prison had tested positive for COVID-19, including a Santa Maria inmate who died after landing in hospital for COVID-19 complications while in custody at the Santa Barbara County Jail.
In addition, a deputy sheriff’s custody officer tested positive for COVID-19, Zick said Friday.
So far, 116 sheriff’s employees have tested positive for COVID-19, of whom 113 have recovered and returned to work, Zick said.
More information on COVID-19 vaccine schedules
Registration information for county clinics and links to pharmacy and hospital vaccination sites are here: https://publichealthsbc.org/covid-19-vaccine-appointment-registration/.
Sign up for the county newsletter on vaccination efforts, including announcements about available appointments, here: https://signup.e2ma.net/signup/1937902/1753150/.
Call 2-1-1 and select option 4 to reach the county call center for vaccine questions and to help you register for an appointment if you are eligible. The call center can be accessed at 800.400.1572 for numbers outside the area and is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00.
The 2-1-1 call center has staff who can answer questions about COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County, according to the Department of Public Health.
The state of California has published specific job lists that qualify for each priority vaccination group, but not for the education and child care sector. See the lists here: https://covid19.ca.gov/essential-workforce/.
The Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health has additional information about the vaccine on its COVID-19 page here: https://publichealthsbc.org.
Click here to read stories in the Noozhawk’s Coronavirus Crisis section.
– Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be contacted at . (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Sign in with Noozhawk on Facebook.