The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department reported 51 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the county’s total to 8,550.
The county also reported two additional deaths, bringing the county’s total to 99.
One decedent was over the age of 70, while the other was between the ages of 30 and 49. Both resided in the city of Santa Maria and suffered from underlying health conditions, officials said.
Santa Maria now has 53 total deaths due to COVID-19, the most of any city in the county. Santa Barbara is the next closest with 12.
Of the total cases in the county, 231 are considered active, with 39 people recovering in the hospital and 13 people receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit.
Santa Maria reported 17 new cases on Wednesday and now has a total of 3,702 cases, 77 of which are active. Lompoc is the next closest with 36 active cases.
Santa Barbara and Lompoc each announced five new cases, bringing each city’s total to 1,144 and 748, respectively.
Isla Vista, the college town that lies within UCSB, reported four new cases on Wednesday bringing its total to 172, 13 of which are active. Since Aug. 2, I.V. has seen an increase of 119 cases.
The unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota, community of Orcutt, city of Goleta, Santa Ynez Valley and the unincorporated area of Sisquoc, Casmalia, Garey, Cuyama, New Cuyama, and the city of Guadalupe each had two new cases.
The Federal Prison Complex in Lompoc reported one new case. It now has 1,024 cases, only one of which is active.
Broken down by age range, the bracket with the most cases came from residents between 18 and 29 with 20 new cases, bringing the total to 2,445.
There were also 15 new cases in the 30 to 49 age range, bringing the total to 3,213, the most in the county.
The 0-17 age range had zero cases, 50-69 had 11 and those in the 70-plus group had four new cases.
As of Wednesday, the Public Health Department has administered 129,503 tests. Of those, 120,395 have tested negative, 8,550 positive and 354 were inconclusive.
A total of 8,220 people have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the data.
In other news, Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District announced Tuesday that one of its employees has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
According to MTD, the employee had been working as a bus operator and began feeling unwell after work on Sept. 4. The person has not worked since and is now in isolation.
MTD conducted a thorough contact tracing process which they believe shows that the person was not in close contact with other employees or members of the public.
All MTD employees have been notified of the positive test result and specific employees who have been identified through contact tracing have been sent home for self-isolation and testing.
The operator who tested positive drove the following routes for the 48 hours prior to becoming symptomatic: Sept. 3 – Line 23 from 5:50 to 6:10 a.m.; Line 11 from 6:10 to 7:28 a.m.; Line 6 from 7:30 to 8:23 a.m.; Lines 1 & 2 from 10:40 a.m. until 3:25 p.m. Sept. 4 – Line 23 from 5:50 to 6:10 a.m.; Line 11 from 6:10 to 7:28 a.m.; Line 6 from 7:30 to 8:23 a.m.; Lines 1 & 2 from 10:40 a.m. until 3:25 p.m.
The unit numbers of the buses driven are as follows: 624, 900, 901, 910.
Any passenger who rode on the routes listed above at the times listed and believes they may have come within six feet of the bus operator for more than 15 minutes should monitor themselves for possible symptoms and contact their healthcare provider if any symptoms develop.
email: jmercado@newspress.com
