As Santa Barbara County’s tally of coronavirus cases rose Tuesday, Sheriff Bill Brown said the pandemic is presenting “a unique set of challenges to law enforcement.”
Brown’s comments came at a press briefing at which county Public Health Department officials announced that confirmed cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, had increased by six — to 24 — in Santa Barbara County.
Of those, one person was hospitalized and 19 were quarantined and recovering at home, said Paige A. Batson, deputy director of Public Health.
Four patients have fully recovered after completing 14 days of monitoring by Public Health, Batson added.
Two of the new cases were in the North County and four were on the South Coast, and the patients ranged in age from 22 to 59.
Despite persistent questioning, Public Health officials continue to withhold detailed information about those confirmed to have coronavirus, including their genders, whether they have underlying conditions, the communities they live in, and how they are believed to have acquired the disease.
Batson said more information would be released in the coming days.
Brown noted that all law enforcement in the county are committed to maintaining peace and order through the pandemic, with a goal of protecting the community.
Deputies are empowered to enforce the governor’s shelter-at-home order, Brown said, with citations and arrests if necessary.
But he said that overall the public has shown “exceedingly high” levels of cooperation; there have been a small number of violations, which have been handled on a case-by-case basis, “starting with an explanation and a warning.”
Harsher enforcement measures are more of a last resort, he said.
“We want to be long on discretion and short on enforcement,” Brown said.
Deputies will remain diligent in seeking out criminal offenders who attempt to take advantage of the situation through cons, price gouging or burglarizing closed businesses, Brown said.
Criminal activity, arrests and incarceration all are down in the past month, Brown said, with bookings declining 28 percent.
The Sheriff’s Department is encouraging law enforcement officers not to bring people to the jail if there are reasonable alternatives, he said.
One area that has seen an increase is domestic-disturbance calls, he added, a not-unexpected outcome since people are spending more time together at home.
Jail bookings have declined by 67 percent over the past month, and the jail’s population Tuesday — 766 inmates — is the lowest Brown has seen in 13-plus years as sheriff.
The Sheriff’s Department has accelerated the early release of inmates who meet established criteria, Brown said, mainly those with a low likelihood of re-offending.
Numerous steps have been taken to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the jail, Brown said, including educating inmates about how to protect themselves; additional cleaning and disinfecting; providing inmates with more personal-hygiene items and cleaning materials; and limiting access to the staff dining area.
In-person inmate visitation was discontinued weeks ago, but inmates have been granted an increased number of phone calls, he said.
At the press conference, Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county’s public health officer, praised the community for its social-distancing efforts, saying they “are really making a difference.”
He reiterated the advice from earlier briefings that members of the community “should assume the virus is in your community, assume you are at risk of contracting the virus, and take actions to stop the spread.”
People who are sick should stay home until symptoms resolve and they have no fever, he said. If the symptoms worsen — especially shortness of breath or painful breathing — patients should call their medical providers.
The degree to which the community follows these directions “will dictate how slowly or quickly the virus will spread,” Ansorg said.
Click here for information about coronavirus from the county Public Health Department.
Click here to go to Noozhawk’s Coronavirus Crisis section.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.