The county reports a continuing decline of new positive COVID-19 cases, with a 12.6% drop this week compared to the previous week. 

Over the week ending Wednesday, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department reported a total of 724 new COVID-19 cases.

Public Health officials reiterated that this is an underreporting of COVID-19 cases in the county, since most rapid antigen home tests are often not reported to the county Public Health Department.

According to the Community Data Dashboard, there were two COVID-19-related deaths of county residents reported in the week ending Thursday. 

As of Thursday, there were 47 COVID-19-positive individuals hospitalized in the county, five of whom are being treated in local intensive-care units.

Public Health has reported a total of 100,955 COVID-19 cases and 711 related deaths among Santa Barbara County residents.

— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.