Santa Barbara County reported 30 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, according to the state Department of Public Health.
To date, the county has recorded a total of 8,434 cases, with 97 deaths.
No new fatalities were reported on Sunday.
The county’s seven-day average as of Sunday was 49 cases per day, while the 14-day average was 51 cases per day.
Under the state’s reopening scheme, the county is in the purple tier, meaning COVID-19 is “widespread” in the community.
In order to get to the next less-restrictive tier, the county must get its rate down to 32 cases or fewer per day. The state plans to evaluate each county’s status weekly, on Tuesdays, starting this week.
As of Sunday, there were 44 confirmed COVID-19 patients being treated in local hospitals, with seven additional suspected cases.
Of those, 17 people were in intensive care units, an increase from 14 the previous day. There also were two suspected cases in intensive care.
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has again stopped providing updates on COVID-19 cases on weekends and holidays, so more detailed information, such as age breakdowns and geographic locations of patients, was not immediately available.
However, the county must still report cases to the state.
The county is expected to provide its next update on COVID-19 cases Tuesday evening.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.