Four minors detained at Juvenile Hall in Santa Maria have conducted possible tests for COVID-19, the Santa Barbara County Probation Department announced Friday.
A staff member also tested positive, parole director Tanja Heitman said in a press release.
The Probation Department developed a coronavirus response plan, “and immediately implemented protocols to transfer youth with positive tests to a designated medical housing unit within the facility.”
There were 28 minors incarcerated at the California Boulevard facility on Friday, Heitman said.
Probation officials are proceeding with COVID-19 testing for all youth and staff, Heitman said, and are conducting “better monitoring and detection by medical personnel to detect signs of illness.”
“The Probation Department continues to focus on and respond to the mental and physical well-being of youth in this challenging and stressful situation, and is taking steps to ensure their well-being,” said Heitman. “The Department continues to monitor the situation on a daily basis and will make decisions based on best practices in health and safety standards for the youth in their care, their officials and the community.”
The state Department of Public Health reported 124 additional cases of COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County on Friday. (The county does not plan to provide updates over the holiday weekend.)
The county reported 70 patients with COVID-19 in local hospitals (64 confirmed and six suspected), including 25 in intensive care units (24 confirmed and one suspected).
The state does not provide geographic or demographic information for the new cases it reports.
On Thursday, the county reported 310 active COVID-19 cases, and the state set the county total on Friday at 3,385 cases.
Thirty-one coronavirus deaths have been reported in the county, including one announced Wednesday without details.
Four inmates and 21 custodial staff tested positive for COVID-19 at the Santa Barbara County Jail near Santa Barbara. (File photo of Giana Magnoli / Noozhawk)
The Department of Public Health has reported 10 deaths among residents of the Country Oaks Care Center in Santa Maria, which is the deadliest COVID-19 outbreak in the county.
The announcement of the outbreak at Juvenile Hall comes two days after the Sheriff’s Department reported new cases among staff and inmates at the Main County Jail near Santa Barbara.
Sheriff Bill Brown said testing of all inmates and Main Jail staff has been hampered by “a shortage of test kits,” adding that the department had evaluated 340 staff members and 321 inmates as of Thursday.
“As of this afternoon, we receive a sufficient supply to be able to screen all inmates,” he said.
The first inmate in a general housing unit to test positive was reported on June 19.
There were 578 people incarcerated in the Main Jail, and of the people tested, four tested positive, one was inconclusive and retested, and 139 people tested negative, Brown said.
The prison’s contracted provider of prison medical and mental health services is conducting COVID-19 testing for staff and inmates, but staff members may also be screened at community testing sites and other locations in the county.
So far, 21 custodial staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, including a custodial deputy who worked two shifts at the Psychiatric Health Center after a Wellpath employee mistakenly told her that her test result was negative.
Over the course of 10 days, he reported the symptoms of COVID-19, underwent tests, received negative (incorrect) results, became asymptomatic, and returned to work.
The bug was discovered Wednesday, and he was sent home early on his shift and told to isolate himself, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Weekly positivity rates for new coronavirus tests have increased in Santa Barbara County. (Santa Barbara County Photo)
Public health officials have been concerned about the increased positivity of the test, which means that more of the people being tested are getting positive results.
The county’s weekly positivity rate increased to 8.5 percent, compared to 5.2 percent two weeks ago.
Local healthcare providers are seeing the same trend, according to Sansum Clinic and Cottage Health, which have been evaluating patients for months.
The positivity rate of COVID-19 tests performed at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital has increased exponentially in recent weeks, with about one in 10 tests now giving positive results, said Dr. David Fisk, an infectious disease physician at the Cottage and Sansum Clinic.
In addition to evaluating people who enter the emergency department, the hospital now evaluates everyone who enters the hospital, even for elective procedures.
“It is clear that the virus is rampant in our community right now,” Fisk said Thursday.
“This trend is due solely to the lack of physical and social distancing that we saw a few months ago.”
Fisk said Cottage Health has seen an increase in sick and symptomatic patients and asymptomatic people testing positive.
Increasing new tests for coronaviruses is one way to slow the spread of the virus, as well as social distancing, the use of facial covers and hand washing, he said.
“We have known measures that can curb the spread, and the practices we carried out earlier this year definitely did,” he said.
Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli and staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue contributed to this report.
– Noozhawk Executive Editor Tom Bolton can be contacted at . (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews, and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
.
