Santa Barbara County’s COVID-19-positive hospital admissions pushed the region into the highest community transmission category and COVID-19 Community Level of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention metric.
All neighboring counties also have moved to a high community transmission level as of Friday.
At this level, the CDC recommends wearing masks indoors in public and on public transportation, staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, and getting tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
Public Health reported six COVID-19-related deaths this week, and the state reported a total of 702 county residents who have died of COVID-19 during the pandemic so far.
“There continues to be a high level of virus transmission in the community,” Public Health officials wrote in a weekly summary Friday on the data dashboard.
“BA.5 is now the dominant (novel coronavirus) strain on the southern West Coast (including California) and the nation.”
Public Health reported a 4.9% decrease in the weekly average of positive COVID-19 cases this week, while noting that the overall number of infected people is underreported since positive rapid antigen test results are not included in official counts. Hundreds of new cases are reported each week.
The testing positivity rate increased to 16.4% this week, which means more than 16 out of every 100 test results comes back positive in the county. The rate has been steadily increasing since early April, when the rate was around 1.5%.
The county reported a fluctuating number of COVID-19-positive hospital patients this week, with an overall lower number this Thursday compared to last week.
There were 33 people as of Thursday, which includes people who were hospitalized for COVID-19-related reasons and those who were hospitalized for unrelated issues but tested positive for COVID-19 while they were there.
Public Health officials said hospitalizations have been increasing, although intensive care unit admissions have been low. The total number increased to 57 this week before dropping on Thursday to the 33-person number.
Vaccination Update
On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for use in adults (18 and older).
There are now multiple COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States and people six months old and older are now eligible to receive the shots.
Local residents over the age of 65 have the highest vaccination rate so far and the highest rate of booster doses.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.