As COVID-19 cases have increased significantly in recent weeks, Santa Barbara County’s community infection rates set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been raised from low to moderate.
The county — with 30.1 cases per 100,000 people — has joined 32 of the state’s 58 counties at this level, where the CDC advises residents at high risk of serious illnesses to consult their health care providers about wearing or taking a mask need other precautions.
San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties were also upgraded to intermediate tier this week.
The change comes as the county health department reported 581 new cases of COVID-19 over the past three days.
In the past seven days, the county has reported 1,141 new cases, up 16.3% from the previous week, according to data compiled by Noozhawk.
Of the most recent cases, the largest number — 132 — is on Isla Vista, followed by 113 in the Santa Maria Valley, 108 in the Goleta Valley, and 105 in the Santa Barbara area.
The Lompoc Valley reported 38 cases, the Santa Ynez Valley 30 and the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area 27 cases.
Geographic locations were pending in 28 cases.
The last COVID-19 death in the county was reported on May 19, and there has been one death in the past 14 days.
The number of hospital admissions has remained relatively stable in the past week in the district.
On Friday, 19 COVID-19 positive patients were being treated at local hospitals, although some of them were admitted for other medical reasons.
Three novel coronavirus patients have been treated in local intensive care units.
New COVID-19 outbreak in county jail
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday that it has identified 13 inmates at the county jail who tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
“None of the COVID-positive inmates in this outbreak require hospitalization. Two inmates have reported being symptomatic and 11 are asymptomatic,” said Raquel Zick, the sheriff’s public information officer.
The visit to the prison has been suspended, Zick said.
“When we identify COVID-19 positive inmates, they are moved to an area of the facility that has negative pressure cells,” Zick said. “The remainder are grouped together in small groups (cohorts) and isolated from other inmates and monitored for symptoms by Wellpath.”
Hundreds of inmates at the county jail have tested positive for COVID-19 in an outbreak that began late last year.
– Noozhawk Editor-in-Chief Tom Bolton can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.>
