[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 Grace Kitayama, a staff writer for Noozhawk.

This newsletter is a way for Noozhawk readers to get important updates in one place.

It’s emailed out every Wednesday, for free, to everyone who subscribes.

Here’s What We Know 

» According to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, there was a 12.6% decrease in new COVID-19 cases reported last week compared to the previous week. This is an underreporting of cases in the county because at-home rapid antigen tests are not often reported.

» The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that COVID-19 community levels remain at a medium rating for the county.

» The county’s testing positivity rate is 15.4%, a 1% decrease from the week before. 

» As of Monday, there were 50 coronavirus-positive patients hospitalized in the county, including four being treated in intensive-care units.

COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

COVID-19 vaccines are available and recommended for everyone 6 months old and older.

Of those eligible, 69% of Santa Barbara County residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Children under 5, the most recent group to become eligible for vaccination, have the lowest rate of being fully vaccinated at 0.5%.

Adults over age 65 have the highest rate at 93.8% fully vaccinated.

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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— Noozhawk staff writer Grace Kitayama can be reached at gkitayama@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.