[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 Serena Guentz 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
- In the week ending Feb. 6, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department reported 180 COVID-19 cases and one related death. The previous week had 208 cases and one related death.
- As of Monday, 21 coronavirus-positive patients were hospitalized in the county, with five of them being treated in intensive-care units.
- Santa Barbara County remains in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s low COVID-19 community level.
- Earlier this month, the Food & Drug Administration revised emergency use authorizations for Paxlovid and Lagevrio — two COVID-19 treatments — to remove the requirement of positive test results to prescribe the treatments.
- While test-to-treat sites in the county have been closed, there are free testing sites available at Public Health Department-operated facilities throughout the county — which can be found here. However, they are only offering rapid antigen testing and not PCR/molecular testing.
COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
According to the county’s data dashboard, 70% of Santa Barbara County residents have completed the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines and 61.1% have also received a booster dose. Nearly 24% of county residents have received the bivalent booster.
Santa Barbara County’s vaccination rates are slightly lower than the statewide rates, with 72.6% of California residents having completed the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines and 24.3% of residents having received the bivalent booster statewide.
The county’s rate for residents who have completed the primary series and received a booster dose is the same as the statewide rate.
Got Questions?
Readers have sent us dozens of questions about 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.
- Click here for Noozhawk’s complete Coronavirus Crisis coverage.
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