Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital is prepared for storing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine at 94 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit. The hospital has a big freezer and multiple backup freezers.
There were two COVID-19 deaths reported in Santa Barbara County on Tuesday, a Lompoc resident and a Santa Maria resident.
According to the county Public Health Department’s daily update, both deceased individuals were 70 years old or over and neither had underlying health conditions. One death was associated with an outbreak in a congregate care facility.
Santa Barbara County reported 207 daily cases on Tuesday, bringing the county’s total COVID-19 case count up to 13,763 and the number of still infectious cases up to 1,059. A total of 71 of these daily cases were located in Santa Maria. Forty-one were in Santa Barbara, 21 were in Lompoc, 20 were in Goleta, 12 were in Orcutt, five were in the Santa Ynez Valley, another five were in the South County Unincorporated Area, another five were in the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota, and three were in Isla Vista.
Twelve daily cases were scattered throughout the unincorporated areas of Sisquoc, Casmalia, Garey, Cuyama, New Cuyama, and the city of Guadalupe.
The locations of 12 daily cases are pending.
Santa Maria leads the county in still infectious cases, with 338. Santa Barbara has the second most, 228. There are 126 still infectious cases in Lompoc, 70 in Goleta, 56 in Orcutt, 41 in the South County Unincorporated Area, 36 in the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley an Gaviota, 28 in Isla Vista, 23 in the Santa Ynez Valley, and seven in the Lompoc Federal Prison.
There are also 38 daily cases scattered throughout the unincorporated areas of Sisquoc, Casmalia, Garey, Cuyama, New Cuyama, and the city of Guadalupe.
The locations of 68 still infectious cases are pending.
According to the Santa Barbara County community data dashboard, 57% of the county’s hospital beds are in use and 13% of its ventilators are in use. The county’s staffed ICU bed capacity is at 44%, while the Southern California region’s ICU capacity is at 1.8%.
Cottage Hospital is currently caring for 263 patients across all of its campuses, including 227 acute care patients and 161 acute care beds are still available. Of the 277 patients in acute care, 12 are on ventilators.
Some 41 of the acute care patients are in isolation with COVID-19 symptoms and 39 are confirmed to be COVID-19 positive. Of the 41 patients in isolation, 13 are in critical care.
email: jgrega@newspress.com
