The Lompoc City Council has submitted a letter of support to Gov. Gavin Newsom backing requests from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to allow the Central Coast region to exit the regional stay home order and classify as its own region.

Lompoc City Council discussed the letter of support at the Dec. 15 Lompoc City Council meeting, and voted unanimously in favor of drafting and sending the letter.

Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties have jointly requested the creation of a Central Coast region, including the three counties, asking that the Central Coast region be allowed to exit the regional stay home order after three weeks if intensive care unit (ICU) capacity in the three counties exceeds 15 percent.

Currently, the tri-counties are part of the Southern California Region, with a level of ICU bed availability requiring activation of the stay home order.

Lompoc Mayor Jenelle Osborne writes in the Dec. 17 letter to Newsom: “The city of Lompoc is concerned current restrictions such as no outdoor dining at local restaurants will drive up the risky behavior of households mixing in private homes socializing without masks and social distancing.

“Allowing the tri-county to become its own Central Coast region will not significantly affect the ICU availability rates of the Southern California Region, since the remaining counties are much larger size and populations. However, it will have a profound impact on the Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo communities.”

In addition, Santa Barbara County has created an email address for residents and business operators in the county to submit public comments to the governor’s office regarding the request to create a Central Coast region and be removed from the Southern California Region for monitoring of ICU bed availability under the state’s stay home order.

The public should submit their comments to CentralCoastRegionSBC@countyofsb.org.

Contacts for local district and elected officials are at https://countyofsb.org/care/elections/candidate/lookup.sbc.

For more information, and to view Osborne’s full letter, visit https://publichealthsbc.org/feedback-for-creation-of-central-coast-region/.