Within a week of transferring 244 people in custody to the new Northern Branch Jail near Santa Maria, six inmates have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Custody Division transported them from the Main Jail near Santa Barbara, where there is an active COVID-19 outbreak, on Saturday as an “additional step to safeguard the well-being of inmates and staff while we continually work to mitigate the spread of COVID,” spokeswoman Raquel Zick said.
There are about 730 people in custody between the two jail facilities.
Before the move, all inmates, transportation staff and receiving staff had tested negative for the virus, and transferred inmates were quarantined and tested daily since their arrival, Zick said on Thursday. Six inmates were identified as COVID-19-positive during the surveillance testing process, she added.
Two inmates were found to be positive on Sunday, three on Monday, and one on Tuesday, Zick said, adding that all of the infected people in custody were asymptomatic.
All six people who have tested positive have been housed in a different area of the Northern Branch Jail and isolated in a separate area, she said.
The outbreak that started at the beginning of December at the Main Jail in South County was up to 249 total cases as of Wednesday, with 37 cases considered active.
The county held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the 376-bed Northern Branch Jail facility in November but it had never been occupied until Saturday.
County Reports Additional 955 Positive Cases Thursday
Santa Barbara County Public Health reported 955 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19-related death of a Santa Maria resident on Thursday.
The person who died was over 70 years old and had underlying medical conditions. There have been 26 COVID-19-related deaths reported countywide over the past two weeks, and the county’s cumulative death toll stands at 599.
COVID-19-related hospitalizations dropped slightly on Thursday to 136 patients being treated in county hospitals, including 16 in intensive-care units.
Of the new cases reported Thursday, 315 were from the Santa Maria Valley and 172 were from the Lompoc Valley. The Santa Barbara area reported 154 additional cases, the Goleta Valley added 121, Isla Vista logged 73, the Santa Ynez Valley tallied 48, the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area reported 29, and the Lompoc Federal Prison added one.
There were 42 cases still pending geographic location, and 6,079 cases still considered to be infectious countywide on Thursday.
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
