Santa Barbara County Public Health officials reported 24 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death on Thursday.
The individual who died was older than age 70, had underlying health issues and resided in the unincorporated area of the South Coast.
The county’s cumulative COVID-19 death toll increased to 444, and there have been 33,796 confirmed cases in the county to date.
There were 15 patients hospitalized with the virus as of Thursday, including two in intensive-care units.
County hospitals were operating at an ICU availability rate of more than 21% on Thursday, according to the Public Health Department.
The county reported an average of 20.6 daily COVID-19 hospitalizations during the past seven days, which is more than 14% less than the week before, according to data tracking by Noozhawk.
The county is in the second most-restrictive “substantial” red tier of the COVID-19 reopening framework.
The county’s test positivity rate stood at 1.9%, which will satisfy criteria for the least-restrictive yellow tier threshold, the fourth level under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy restrictions.
The health equity metric was 2.7% and the county’s adjusted case rate stood at 4.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents, which both meet the criteria for the orange tier.
The State of California will update tier assignments for its 58 counties each Tuesday.
Santa Barbara County has met the state’s orange tier case rate and positivity rate for one week, according to the county. If those metrics are maintained for the next several days, movement into the less-restrictive orange tier may take effect as early as Wednesday, county public health officials said.
“This movement will further ease restrictions and allow more indoor activities, in accordance with the rules and framework of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” the county said in a statement.
Of Thursday’s new positive cases, the Santa Maria Valley had 12, Santa Barbara had five, the Goleta Valley had three, the Lompoc Valley had one and Isla Vista had one. Two cases were pending geographic locations.
About 145 residents countywide were considered still infectious with COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the Public Health Department.
The county’s first coronavirus case was reported in March 2020, and the first local death in April last year.
Everyone age 16 or older can book COVID-19 vaccination appointments in Santa Barbara County.
Click here for a list of COVID-19 vaccine providers in Santa Barbara County.
Click here to read stories in Noozhawk’s Coronavirus Crisis section.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
