Following the latest assessment of the plan for a safer economy, Santa Barbara County met all moderate orange criteria on Tuesday and is set to officially advance to the less restrictive orange level next week.
The county reported an adjusted rate of 4.6 new daily cases per 100,000 people, a test positivity rate of 1.9% and a health equity test positivity rate of 2.7%.
All three values decreased from the previous reporting period.
If the county keeps these numbers low next week, it will advance to the orange level immediately after April 20, public health director Van Do-Reynoso said during Thursday’s COVID-19 briefing.
The county must meet all the orange level criteria for two consecutive weeks to officially move to the next level.
Advancing to orange means expanded indoor and outdoor capacity for restaurants and entertainment venues, as well as lighter restrictions for other industries.
Public health officials in Santa Barbara County reported only 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and there were no additional deaths for the seventh day in a row.
The cumulative COVID-19 balance of the county remained at 441.
There were 143 cases still considered to be infectious throughout the county. The daily number of active cases has not been so low since November 7, 2020, according to Noozhawk data.
21 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized, including four in intensive care units. The availability rate of the ICU of the county was 29.9%.
Of the new cases on Tuesday, five were from the Santa Maria Valley, four were from Santa Barbara and one was from the Goleta Valley. One case is still being geographically located.
As of Monday, 21.5% of the county’s population has been completely vaccinated, according to the county’s dashboard.
On Tuesday, the California Department of Public Health announced it had instructed health care providers to discontinue the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine with a single fire.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended a break on Tuesday as a precaution, said Erica Pan, a state epidemiologist.
Of the more than 6.8 million doses administered nationwide, six rare and severe cases of blood clots have been reported, with symptoms occurring six to 13 days after vaccination, Pan said.
The Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health will follow state instructions and stop administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine until further notice, Public Health spokesman Jackie Ruiz told Noozhawk.
Any clinics scheduled for this week that originally planned to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will not be canceled, but will use the Moderna vaccine instead, she added.
– Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue 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.