[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.]
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 March 6, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department reported 104 COVID-19 cases. The previous week had 174 cases and one related death.
- According to the county’s weekly summary for the period ending March 9, the weekly average of PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases decreased by 15.6%.
- Santa Barbara County remains in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s low COVID-19 community level.
- On Monday, there were 13 coronavirus-positive patients hospitalized in the county, with one of them in an intensive-care unit.
COVID-19 Guidance
California’s COVID-19 state of emergency ended on Feb. 28 and the California Department of Public Health has announced updates to COVID-19 guidance, which the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department said it is following.
One of these updates that began Monday says that someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 can end isolation after five days if they feel well, have improving symptoms, and are fever-free for 24 hours — rather than waiting for a negative test result, the CDPH said.
Beginning April 3, the CDPH said masks will not be required in indoor high-risk or health-care settings, and COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be required for health-care workers.
“We want to remind the public that critical tools to fight COVID-19 remain available to everyone at low or no cost,” the county Public Health Department said. “This includes access to COVID-19 vaccines, testing and treatment.”
More information on the CDPH’s updates can be found here.
COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
As of March 10, a total of 959,051 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Santa Barbara County, and 70% of county residents have completed the primary series of the vaccine.
About 60% of county residents have completed the primary series of the vaccine and received a booster dose, and 24.6% of residents have received the bivalent booster.
Statewide, providers have administered more than 88 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The statewide vaccination rates are slightly higher than Santa Barbara County’s numbers with 72.7% of Californians having completed the primary series of the vaccine, 61.3% of residents also receiving a booster dose, and nearly 25% of California residents having received a bivalent booster.
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 COVID-19 coverage.
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