By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health reports 396 new cases of COVID-19 on the last day of 2020.
There are currently 1,456 active cases within the community. Of these, 135 were admitted to the hospital, of which 34 to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Three deaths were reported on Thursday. The individuals lived in the regions of Santa Barbara and Mission Canyon, Lompoc and the communities of Mission Hills and Vandenberg Village and the city of Santa Maria. Two individuals were over 70 and one was between 50-69 years old. Two individuals had underlying medical conditions and one death was accompanied by an outbreak in a community facility.
An additional death was reported on Wednesday. The individual was over 70 years old with underlying medical conditions and lived in the unincorporated areas of the Goleta Valley. The death was related to an outbreak in a congregation facility.
There are now 160 deaths in 2020 directly related to the COVID-19 virus.
The Department of Public Health continues to claim that most infections, and then deaths, are due to people ignoring the rules and gathering outside their household. This causes the virus to spread, which is then contracted by someone who cannot repel it and dies.
The ICU availability of Santa Barbara County is 4.4%, which means that there is a nominal amount of space available for the unavoidable amount of people who will become ill in the coming weeks due to unobstructed gatherings during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Public health officials, doctors and scientists are urging everyone to stay home, wear a mask and wash their hands to prevent this contagious and deadly virus from spreading.
Visit https://publichealthsbc.org/status-reports/ for more information