[Editor’s Note: With COVID-19 cases in the county remaining low, Noozhawk will no longer post daily updates, and instead will return to doing them twice a week — on Mondays and Fridays.]
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department on Monday reported a total of 75 new COVID-19 cases over the three-day period since Friday, along with two coronavirus-related deaths.
According to the Community Data Dashboard, the deaths were both of individuals ages 70 or older who had underlying health conditions. One was associated with a congregate-care site.
One resided in Goleta, while the other lived in the Santa Barbara area.
These bring the county’s total number of deaths related to the virus to 664.
Of the 75 cases reported over the weekend, 32 were from Saturday, 30 were on Sunday, and 13 were from Monday.
As of Monday, 19 COVID-19-positive people were hospitalized throughout the county, with just two of these patients being treated in intensive-care units.
This is the lowest number of ICU patients being treated for COVID-19 since last summer.
Of the new cases reported since Friday, 22 are in the Santa Maria Valley and 14 are in the Santa Barbara area.
The Lompoc Valley and the Goleta Valley each reported 11 new cases each and the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area recorded six.
The Santa Ynez Valley logged four cases, while Isla Vista accounted for two cases.
There were five cases pending geographic location since Friday.
Since the pandemic began in early 2020, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has reported 84,897 COVID-19 cases, and as of Monday, 171 cases were considered “active” or still infectious.
— 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.