COVID-19 cases are surging in Isla Vista, outpacing all other areas of Santa Barbara County during the past two weeks, according to data released Thursday by the county Public Health Department.
There were no new cases reported in Isla Vista on Thursday, but the total for the community adjacent to UC Santa Barbara jumped by 39 — from 358 to 397 — compared with the previous day.
The change appeared to be related to active cases for which the geographic location had been pending. On Wednesday, the pending cases stood at 399, but on Thursday, that number had dropped to 373.
Isla Vista has reported 91 new cases in the past seven days and 131 — or nearly a 50% increase — in the past two weeks.
On Oct. 15, Isla Vista had tallied 266 cases, but by Thursday, the number had soared to 397.
By comparison, in the same two-week period, Santa Maria — the county community that has been the hardest hit by COVID-19 — reported 96 cases. Santa Barbara, meanwhile, has seen only 20 new cases during the past two weeks.
County public health officials have said that the outbreaks in Isla Vista — tied in some cases to sorority and fraternity houses — are hindering the county from advancing to the less-restrictive orange tier under the state’s color-coded reopening system.
Overall, the county reported 33 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and no new fatalities.
Thursday’s testing positivity rate was 2.2 percent, and the seven-day rolling community positivity rate was 2.2 percent.
There have been 205 new cases reported in the county in the past seven days, with an average of 29.3 cases per day.
With the 33 additional cases, there are 138 still-infectious patients throughout the county.
Santa Maria reported 11 new cases, and the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota reported seven. The Lompoc Valley had five new cases, and Orcutt had two. Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley each reported one new case, and six cases were pending geographic locations.
There were no new cases reported in the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area, Goleta, Isla Vista, the Lompoc federal prison or the unincorporated areas of North County.
Hospitalization trends have not changed since Wednesday. There were 11 COVID-19 patients in local hospitals, with three of them being treated in intensive-care units.
— 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.
