Supervisor Gregg Hart says Santa Barbara County has reached a “crossroads” in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Tom Bolton / Noozhawk)
Santa Barbara County “is at a crossroads with the COVID-19 pandemic,” supervisor Gregg Hart said Friday during the weekend’s regular press conference.
Hart presented a sobering report of the increase in the highly infectious virus in the county over the past two months:
On Memorial Day weekend, the county averaged 13 cases per day, reaching 25 cases two weeks later.
A month later, there were 60 cases per day, and after six weeks there were 96 cases.
As of Friday, the county had skyrocketed an average of 121 cases per day.
That’s a far cry from the state standard for the total reopening of just eight cases per day, Hart said.
“We can’t go on like this indefinitely,” said Hart, “with students who are not in schools and businesses that cannot completely reopen.”
The Second District supervisor urged county residents to redouble their efforts to prevent illness by wearing face masks, practicing social distancing, avoiding meetings and interactions with non-household members, and frequent hand washing.
“We can cut our cases in half by the end of August if we all work together …” he said. “We all have to strive to achieve that goal.”
He warned that if no action is taken now, more shutdowns could occur in the future.
The county Department of Public Health reported 133 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, with 85 patients treated at local hospitals, including 26 in intensive care units. The latest numbers decreased slightly from the previous day.
| New cases reported on July 24 | Active cases by region | Total cases reported to date | |
| Montecito, Summerland, Carpentry | 4 4 | eleven | 112 |
| Santa Barbara and Mission Canyon | 12 | 47 | 667 |
| Schooner | 3 | 6 6 | 121 |
| Isla Vista | 3 | 5 5 | 40 |
| Western Goleta Valley and Gaviota | 0 0 | 6 6 | 94 |
| Santa Ynez Valley | two | 7 7 | 63 |
| Lompoc, Vandenberg Village, Mission Hills | 12 | 39 | 382 |
| Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex | one | 7 7 | 1,011 |
| Santa Maria | 77 | 183 | 2,496 |
| Orcutt | one | 10 | 173 |
| Guadalupe, New Cuyama, Garey, Casmalia, Sisquoc | 7 7 | fifteen | 229 |
| Pending | 12 | 33 | 188 |
| Santa Barbara County Total | 133 | 369 | 5,576 |
No new coronavirus deaths were reported Friday, with the county’s remaining total at 32.
Of the new cases, 85 were in the Santa María Valley, which has been a focus of the disease locally during the pandemic.
Santa Bárbara and Lompoc registered 12 cases each; Goleta, Isla Vista and Montecito / Summerland / Carpinteria reported three cases each; the Santa Ynez valley had two cases; and the Lompoc Federal Penitentiary Complex had one case. Geographical locations were pending in 12 cases.
The county’s total cases increased to 5,576.
There were 980 test results reported on Friday, for a daily positive test rate of 13 percent. The average seven-day positive test rate was 8.9 percent.
Paige Batson, deputy director of the Department of Public Health, noted that “the key way that COVID is spreading is through meetings”: barbecues, family celebrations and more.
“Our only defense,” he said, “is social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands.”
– 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.
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