[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
»Santa Barbara County surpassed 500 coronavirus-related deaths Tuesday. COVID-19-related hospitalizations have remained around 45 patients for several weeks. In the week ending Tuesday, the county Public Health Department reported four coronavirus-related deaths, compared to eight the week before.
»California’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium expires on Thursday. Rent relief is still available for Santa Barbara County residents through the county’s Emergency Rent Assistance Program with United Way of Santa Barbara County.
»The Santa Barbara Unified School District mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees. According to the district, 88.5% of workers have already verified their vaccination status.
»Thursday is the deadline for health-care workers to be fully vaccinated, as required under a state public health order. The mandate does allow exemptions for religious beliefs or a qualifying medical reason, however, these employees will be required to wear masks at all times and undergo COVID-19 testing twice weekly in acute health-care and long-term care settings, or once weekly in all other health-care settings.
»Santa Barbara’s Harbor & Seafood Festival scheduled for Oct. 16 has been canceled for the second year in a row due to COVID-19. The Santa Barbara Spiny Lobster Fest is still planned for Oct. 23 on the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum’s front patio to celebrate the opening of California spiny lobster season.
COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shots
There are currently no additional doses/booster shots approved or available for people who received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
There are third doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines approved and available for certain populations who already received both doses of the vaccines.
Moderna: A third dose of Moderna has been available since August for immunocompromised people ages 18 or older. Anyone who believes they qualify can request an additional dose from a COVID-19 vaccine provider.
Pfizer: A third dose of Pfizer has been available since August for immunocompromised people ages 12 and older. Anyone who believes they qualify can request an additional dose.
Last week, the Food & Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved Pfizer booster shots (third doses) for additional groups of people.
The CDC recommends a third dose, given six months after the second dose, for people aged 65 and older; residents in long-term care settings; and people aged 50 and older with underlying medical conditions.
A third dose is also recommended for people ages 18 to 49 with underlying medical conditions; and people ages 18 to 64 who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institution.
The CDC said Monday that people are still considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their second dose of a two-dose vaccine, or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine. The lack of a booster shot does not affect their “fully vaccinated” status.
“COVID-19 vaccines are working well to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death, even against the widely circulating Delta variant,” the CDC said. “However, public health experts are starting to see reduced protection, especially among certain populations, against mild and moderate disease.”
Vaccine Tracker
As of Monday, 68.3% of eligible Santa Barbara County residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and nearly 58% of all county residents, which includes those not yet eligible, have been fully vaccinated.
According to the county’s Community Data Dashboard, 76.5% of eligible residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The population of residents in the 50-to-64 age range has the highest vaccination rate in the county with 82% fully vaccinated. Besides those 11 years old and younger, who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine, the 12-to-15 age range currently has the lowest rate at 50% vaccinated.
As of Monday, the county has reported administering a total of 540,075 vaccine doses.
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 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.
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— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.