On the last day of 2020, the Department of Public Health in Santa Barbara County reported a daily high of 396 new COVID-19 cases, counting three additional virus-related deaths.
The province’s previous one-day record of new daily COVID-19 cases, on December 14, occurred when the Department of Public Health reported 360 people were infected.
Public health officials said this week that the COVID-19 numbers of new daily cases in the province, which tested positivity, active cases and hospitalizations are the largest ever reported during the months-long pandemic.
“Not only is it unsafe, but we could lose the extremely limited hospital beds we have left and exhaust the healthcare staff who tirelessly care for our community,” Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health, said Wednesday.
Thursday’s latest report brings the province to a total of 17,391 Santa Barbara County residents who tested positive for COVID-19, while the confirmed death toll was 160, according to the Department of Public Health.
The individuals who died “lived in the regions of Santa Barbara and the unincorporated Mission Canyon, Lompoc and the communities of Mission Hills and Vandenberg Village and the city of Santa Maria,” according to the province’s online data dashboard.
Some geographic areas in the province are merged into the COVID-19 daily status report.
Two individuals who died from COVID-19 were 70 years and older, and one death was a person between the ages of 50 and 69.
Two residents had ‘underlying medical conditions’, and one death was accompanied by an outbreak in a community facility.
There have been 1,756 new cases in the country over the past seven days, averaging nearly 251 cases per day.
COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to increase, with 135 patients treated in local hospitals on Thursday, the largest daily number since the province’s first positive case in March.
Of the patients, 34 were in intensive care units.
More than 46% of the total ICU beds in the country are occupied by COVID-19 patients, a slight decrease compared to 47.3% the previous day.
The availability of the intensive care unit in the province of Southern California remained at 0% on Thursday, while the province’s availability dropped to 4.4%, from 9.5% the previous day.
Santa Barbara County is grouped in the Southern California region, where ICU availability must rise to 15% or higher for the province to leave local home order.
The number of active cases in the province broke records for one day, with at least 1,456 residents who tested positive and are still considered contagious.
During the winter holidays, local public health officials over the past few weeks have been asking residents to avoid meeting with people outside their household to curb the spread of the fast-moving virus.
(Turn to a new COVID-19 update by Dr. Watch Lynn Fitzgibbons, infectious disease specialist at Cottage Health, via YouTube)
Areas across the country are reporting increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Of the new cases reported Thursday, Santa Maria had 98, Santa Barbara was 87, Lompoc 58, Goleta 38, the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area 23 and 20 of Orcutt.
The unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota and the unincorporated areas of Northern County each had 14 new businesses.
The Santa Ynez Valley had eight and Isla Vista reported six.
Geographical locations were 30 daily new cases pending.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department reported Thursday that two additional deputies and three inmates tested positive for COVID-19.
“Both employees were tested as part of the ongoing testing of employees and they wore masks throughout while at work,” sheriff’s spokesman Raquel Zick said.
Two inmates discussed in the main prison near Santa Barbara were found to be COVID-19 positive, Zick said.
“One of the prisoners has since been released,” she said. “A third prisoner in the general population was found to be COVID-19 positive. All prisoners who had direct contact with this COVID-19 positive prisoner tested negative but will be housed and monitored separately. “
There are eight inmates being considered with active COVID-19 cases, and a total of 98 inmates in the main prison who have tested positive for COVID-19 to date.
Each COVID-19 positive inmate was housed in housing areas with negative air pressure, Zick said, and is “consistently monitored by medical personnel.”
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