The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department reported 534 additional cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, the largest daily figure reported since Jan. 16, nearly a year ago.
Wednesday’s daily case count is close to double Tuesday’s 286 cases — which was the largest number reported since the end of January.
The Public Health Department also reported the first confirmed cases of the Omicron novel coronavirus variant on Wednesday.
More than half of Wednesday’s new cases were reported in the South County areas, unlike previous trends that historically have shown the Santa Maria Valley reporting the largest portion of daily new cases.
Public Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg told Noozhawk that there appears to be more COVID-19 testing done in the South County despite the various testing sites located across the North County.
“I think people maybe were taking more advantage of testing opportunities in the south,” he said.
While not confirmed, Ansorg speculated that there might have been more holiday traveling among South County residents, which would explain the larger volume of testing and cases being reported in the South County.
“That’s just a wide guess, I have been trying to figure out myself why,” he added.
Of the new cases reported Wednesday, 145 were from Santa Barbara and 120 were from the Goleta Valley. The Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area reported 32 new cases and Isla Vista logged nine. In the mid-County, the Santa Ynez Valley reported 29 cases and the Lompoc Valley added 52. There were 111 cases reported in the Santa Maria Valley and 36 cases were still pending geographic location.
There were 1,619 cases still considered to be infectious countywide on Wednesday, which is the largest figure reported since Jan. 28, according to data tracking done by Noozhawk.
There were 46 patients hospitalized for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, including nine in intensive-care units. There were no additional deaths reported, and the county’s cumulative COVID-19 death toll remained at 562.
The Public Health Department is distributing free at-home COVID-19 antigen testing kits at various locations countywide while supplies last. The tests are distributed from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the following locations:
» Franklin Health Care Center, 1136 E. Montecito St. Tests will not be distributed at this location on Dec. 31 (Friday)
» Carpinteria Health Care Center, 931 Walnut Ave. Tests will not be distributed at this location on Dec. 31 (Friday)
» Santa Barbara County Public Health, 315 Camino Del Remedio
» Lompoc Health Care Center, 301 North R St.
Click here for information on COVID-19 testing sites across the county.
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
