[Editor’s note: Noozhawk’s weekly COVID-19 email newsletter is delivered to subscribers on Wednesdays. You can sign up here. We are republishing the newsletters on the website so more readers have access to them.]
Welcome to Noozhawk’s Weekly COVID-19 Briefing.
I’m Noozhawk staff writer Grace Kitayama with the latest COVID-19 news in Santa Barbara County.
This newsletter is a way for Noozhawk readers to get important updates in one place.
It is emailed out every Wednesday, for free, to everyone who subscribes.
Here’s What We Know
- The weekly average of COVID-19 cases decreased by 14% for the week ending Friday compared to the previous week, according to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. This is likely an underreporting since rapid, at-home antigen tests are often not reported to the county.
- BQ.1.1 is the dominant strain of coronavirus in California and throughout the southern West Coast.
- According to the county’s community data dashboard, 229 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the week ending Friday, and one coronavirus-related death was reported. The previous week reported 327 new cases.
- Since the beginning of the pandemic, 752 Santa Barbara County residents have died of coronavirus-related causes.
- On Monday, 32 coronavirus-positive patients were hospitalized in the county, four of them in intensive-care units.
- Santa Barbara County remains in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s low COVID-19 community level.
FDA Proposes Shift to Annual Booster
The Food & Drug Administration released a proposal this week to offer annual COVID-19 vaccine booster shots that target circulating variants, similar to the strategy used for flu vaccinations.
That strategy could simplify the vaccination process since people would no longer need to count how many months it has been since their last shot to calculate booster eligibility, according to news reports.
The FDA will present the proposal to the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Thursday, according to NPR.
“Under FDA’s proposal, the agency, independent experts and manufacturers would decide annually on which strains to target by the early summer, allowing several months to produce and launch updated shots before the fall,” PBS reported.
“That’s roughly the same approach long used to select the strains for the annual flu shot.”
COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
The California Department of Public Health reports that 69.8% of Santa Barbara County residents have completed the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine, 60.8% have also received a booster dose and about 22.7% have received the bivalent booster.
Statewide, 60.9% of residents have received their primary and booster doses of the vaccine. In Santa Barbara County, 59.7% of residents have received their primary and booster doses of the vaccine.
Everyone over the age of 6 months is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Click here for more information on receiving the vaccine or getting a booster dose in Santa Barbara County.
Got Questions?
Readers have sent us dozens of questions about coronavirus pandemic-related issues. Please send yours to news@noozhawk.com and we’ll try to include them in future newsletters and Noozhawk Q&As.
Reader Resources
- Find a COVID-19 vaccine provider near you on the Vaccine Finder search function of https://www.vaccines.gov/search/. You can search for providers by location and by specific vaccine available (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson). You can also find providers on the county website, publichealthsbc.org/vaccine, or at myturn.ca.gov. Some facilities offer walk-ups as well as appointments.
- Text your ZIP code to GETVAX (438829) for a list of vaccine providers in English, or text your ZIP code to VACUNA (822862) for a list in Spanish.
- There are free COVID-19 testing facilities around the county.
- Find more local pandemic-related information on the Public Health Department website and the county’s COVID-19 recovery page, with resources for business reopening, rental assistance, food assistance and more.
- Click here for Noozhawk’s complete Coronavirus Crisis coverage.
Help Support Noozhawk Today
Our team has worked hard to build Noozhawk into the trusted local news platform it is today. We are a vital part of this community.
We’re excited about what we do, but we need your help to continue bringing you the thorough local news coverage you rely on.
Your paid membership in our Hawks Club ensures that we can continue to deliver the news you need and want, 24/7. Will you help us by making a financial commitment today?
Click here to make an online donation.
Contributions to Noozhawk are not tax-deductible. Checks can be mailed to Noozhawk, P.O. Box 101, Santa Barbara 93102. Please include your email address so we can contact you.
Thank you for your support.