The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department reported 28 COVID-19 cases on Friday and two coronavirus-related deaths.
The deaths were of individuals ages 50 to 69, one of whom had underlying health conditions. One individual resided in Santa Maria, and the other resided in an unincorporated South County area. Neither death was associated with a congregate care site.
COVID-19 hospitalizations remained low with 21 COVID-19-positive people hospitalized throughout the county, and seven of those patients being treated in intensive-care units.
Friday marked the second day in a row that there were 21 hospitalizations, which is the lowest there has been in the county since July 29, 2021, according to Noozhawk’s data tracking.
Of the 28 COVID-19 cases reported Friday, nine were in the Santa Maria Valley.
The Santa Barbara area, the Goleta Valley and the Lompoc Valley each reported five new cases.
The Santa Ynez Valley logged two new cases, and two COVID-19 cases were pending geographic location Friday.
According to the Community Data Dashboard, there were 175 COVID-19 cases considered still infectious or active — the lowest number of active cases in the county since July 18, 2021, which had 172 active cases.
Since the pandemic began in early 2020, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has reported a total of 84,822 COVID-19 cases and 662 related deaths.
— 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.