Public health officials in Santa Barbara County reported another 512 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, shattering records of new cases reported in a single day.
The county recorded an average of 369.3 new cases per day in the last seven days, more than 100 more than the average of seven days in the previous week.
There are now 1,938 cases still considered infectious in Santa Barbara County.
The cumulative death toll in COVID-19 County rose to 185 on Thursday, when four more COVID-19 deaths were reported.
Three of those who died were over 70 years old, and one was between 50 and 69 years old, according to the Department of Public Health.
Three had underlying health conditions, and one was associated with an outbreak at an assembly unit.
Three lived in the unincorporated Mission Canyon area of Santa Barbara and one lived in Santa Maria.
Coronavirus hospitalizations and intensive care hospitalizations also peaked on Thursday, with 178 patients in local hospitals and 59 in intensive care beds.
Of the 84 ICU beds with staff from all over the county, 70.2% are currently occupied by patients with COVID-19, according to the county data dashboard in the county.
The availability of the county’s “adjusted” ICU remains at 0%, while the actual availability is 11.9%.
ICU availability for the Southern California region remains at 0%.
Of the 512 cases reported on Thursday, 162 were in Santa Maria and 74 in Santa Barbara. Lompoc reported 63 new cases and Goleta reported 40.
The unincorporated areas of North County and Orcutt each reported 37 new cases. There were 22 new cases in the Santa Ynez Valley, 20 in the Montecito-Carpinteria Summerland area and 14 in the unincorporated area of the Goleta and Gaviota Valley.
Isla Vista reported seven new cases, and 36 cases were still pending geographic locations.
There have been 19,953 confirmed cases in the county since the pandemic started.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday reported another 23 detainees and six office staff who tested positive for COVID-19.
Four of the detainees gave positive results during the screening, while the remaining 19 are part of an outbreak in one of the housing units, according to Lt. Erik Raney.
The infections are spreading rapidly through residential units in prisons, as there have been only 12 cases of active detainees since January 1, according to Raquel Zick, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
All positive COVID-19 detainees are housed either in housing areas with negative pressure or separated from the general population, Raney said.
“All affected residential areas are in quarantine and are closely monitored by medical staff,” he added.
There are currently 30 active cases in the main prison.
In response to explosive cases across the county, public health officials have stepped up testing efforts and opened two new test sites – in Isla Vista and Santa Maria.
The Santa Maria site, at 2115 Centerpointe Parkway, is open by appointment only Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
From Friday, the Isla Vista site, at 960 Embarcadero del Norte, is only open for visits on Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m.
– 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.