One more COVID-19-related death and 35 new positive cases were reported Thursday by the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.
The person who died was age 70 or older with underlying health conditions and a resident living in Lompoc and the communities of Mission Hills and Vandenberg Village, public health officials said.
The county’s confirmed coronavirus death toll is 91, with positive cases at 7,951, according to the latest numbers provided by the Public Health Department.
Santa Barbara County’s seven-day rolling average test-positivity rate was 5.2 percent, below the state’s standard of less than 8 percent. The daily test-positivity rate Wednesday was 6 percent, based on 594 tests.
The county reported 52 COVID-19 patients in local hospitals, with 22 in intensive-care units. On Wednesday, the numbers stood at 54 and 23, respectively.
Of the new cases, 16 were in Santa Maria, four were in Lompoc and three were in Santa Barbara. Two each were in the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area, in the unincorporated Goleta Valley and Gaviota, and in the Santa Ynez Valley, which includes the cities of Solvang, Buellton and the communities of Santa Ynez, Los Alamos, Los Olivos and Ballard. One each were in Orcutt and Goleta. Geographic locations were pending on four cases.
Also on Thursday, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department announced that one additional inmate had tested positive for COVID-19, for a total of 42.
“As a result of a previous contact with an infected inmate, over 50 inmates were retested,” said Brad McVay, a sheriff’s spokesman.
They had been tested for COVID-19 last week, McVay said, and all had a negative result. The group was retested earlier this week and one inmate — who was asymptomatic — tested positive for COVID-19, McVay said.
“He is being isolated and medically monitored,” McVay said.
The new case brings the total of “active cases medically monitored/treated” to 12 inmates; 23 have recovered from COVID-19, and six were released from custody.
Earlier in August, a Santa Maria inmate who landed in the hospital for COVID-19 complications had died while in custody at the Santa Barbara County Jail.
The inmate was found unresponsive in his cell, and he did not respond to lifesaving measures and was pronounced dead, a sheriff’s public information officer said earlier this month.
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— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
Difference from previous day
Santa Barbara County Public Health Department Aug. 27
Total positive cases 7,951 +35 COVID-19-related deaths 91 + 1 COVID-19 patients in county hospitals 52 – 2 COVID-19 ICU patients 22 – 1 Total test results 114,509 + 594 Seven-day average test positivity rate 5.2 + 0.3 New cases reported Aug. 27 Active cases by area Total reported cases by area Deaths reported by area South County: Montecito, Summerland, Carpinteria 2 6 175 6 Santa Barbara and Mission Canyon 3 37 1,072 12 Goleta 1 5 205 3 Isla Vista 0 4 141 1 Western Goleta Valley and Gaviota 2 9 151 1 Santa Ynez Valley 2 14 110 2 Lompoc, Vandenberg Village, Mission Hills 4 19 629 8 Lompoc federal correctional complex 0 0 1,019 3 Santa Maria 16 94 3,508 47 Orcutt 1 5 255 4 North County: Guadalupe, Cuyama, New Cuyama, Garey, Casmalia, Sisquoc 0 8 327 4 Pending location 4 0 359 0 Santa Barbara County total 35 228 7,951 91