In a small dose of encouraging news in the local battle against COVID-19, the number of new cases in Santa Barbara Conty rose by only 11 on Wednesday, down from 26 the prior day.
So far, 228 have tested positive for the virus in the county: 112 are recovering at home and 69 have fully recovered.
Thirty seven are hospitalized, with 17 of those in intensive care. The previous day, 42 people were hospitalized, with 19 in ICU.
Two people have died in the county.
“We continue to see an increase in confirmed cases across the county of Santa Barbara,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, county public health officer, during the daily press briefing. “However, the increase is following a linear pathway and has not evolved into an exponential pattern, which we initially were worried about.”
Ansorg said the rate of increase is “reassuring” and “a direct result of our community’s concerted effort to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus and flatten the curve of cases.”
“With this development, I now can comfortably state that we, as a county, are meeting our ongoing goal with our efforts to limit the spread as much as possible,” Ansorg added.
On Wednesday, Cottage Health had 135 patients and 13 patients are on ventilators.
Of the total, 14 patients are in isolation with COVID-19, and seven of those are in critical care, according to Cottage Health.
Cottage has 238 beds remain available. The hospital has identified 270 more beds if needed.
Cottage has collected 1,428 cumulative test samples: 111 resulted in positive, 1,219 resulted in negative, and 98 are pending, according to Cottage.
In Lompoc, the Lompoc Valley Medical Center has 10 confirmed COVID-19 positive patients, and three pending test results. A dozen of those cases are inmates at the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution. One other is a general member of the Lompoc population.
There are four additional inmates from the Correctional Instution being treated at Cottage Hospital. Overall 29 inmates at the Lompoc prison and six staff members have tested positive. No inmate has died from the virus.
In Santa Maria, the Fire Department tested three employees for the COVID-19 virus. Two crew members working at a fire station were experiencing COVID-related symptoms.
Out of precaution, the firefighters are being tested to determine if they have COVID-19. All were sent home today to self-quarantine until the test results come back (estimated to be Thursday). A third employee was also sent for testing.
“We continue to practice social distancing, adhere to screening protocols that our dispatchers are performing, limiting the number of firefighters rendering medical assistance, and wearing all personal protective equipment,” said Fire Chief Leonard Champion.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
