Santa Barbara County reported its highest count of daily COVID-19 cases on Monday, with 360 new cases.
According to a news release from County Public Health, this surge in cases is predictably just over two weeks after Thanksgiving and is a direct result of friends and families gathering.
Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, the public health director, said the rise in cases has resulted in the county entering “a critical state of urgency with ICU bed availability declining at a rapid rate.”
She added, “We are reaching a point where we can see on the horizon our healthcare system being overrun. We must take immediate action as our decisions are now seeing the price to be paid, and it is costing the lives and wellbeing of our community members.”
There were no COVID-19 deaths reported on Monday.
The 360 new COVID-19 cases bring the county’s total number of COVID-19 cases up to 13,557 and the number of still active cases to 940, according to Public Health’s daily COVID-19 update.
A plurality of Monday’s daily cases, 136, were in Santa Maria. 68 daily cases were in Santa Barbara, 19 were in Goleta, another 19 were in Orcutt, 16 were in the South County corridor, 14 were in Isla Vista, seven were in the Lompoc Federal Prison, seven were in the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota, and six were in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Ten daily cases were in the unincorporated area consisting of Sisquoc, Casmalia, Garey, Cuyama and New Cuyama, and the city of Guadalupe.
The locations of 23 daily cases are pending.
Santa Maria also leads the county in still infectious cases, with 284. Santa Barbara has the second most, 202. Lompoc has 123, Goleta has 56, Orcutt has 49, the South County corridor has 42, the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota has 38, Isla Vista has 26, the Santa Ynez Valley has 21, and the Lompoc Federal Prison has seven.
There are also 29 still infectious cases scattered throughout the unincorporated area of Sisquoc, Casmalia, Garey, Cuyama, New Cuyama and the city of Guadalupe.
The locations of 63 still infectious cases are pending.
According to the Santa Barbara County community dashboard, 59% of Santa Barbara County’s hospital beds are in use. Its staffed ICU bed capacity is at 41% as of Monday evening. Twelve percent of the county’s ventilators are in use.
email: jgrega@newspress.com
