After four days of reporting no new COVID-19-related deaths, Santa Barbara County officials on Wednesday said there have been three additional fatalities related to the virus.
Two of the people who died were in the 50-69 age group, and the third was over 70 years of age, according to the county Public Health Department.
Two had underlying health conditions, but none was associated with a congregate-care site.
Two of those who died lived in the Santa Ynez Valley, while the third was from Orcutt.
The latest deaths bring the county’s toll through the entire pandemic to 658 people, of which 10 passed away in the last two weeks.
Also on Wednesday, the county reported 28 additional COVID-19 cases, double the previous day’s total, but still a relatively low number.
There were 25 COVID-19-positive patients in local hospitals, a slight increase from the previous day.
Of those, eight were in intensive-care units, a number that was unchanged.
Of the new cases reported, 10 are in the Santa Maria Valley, nine are in the Santa Barbara area, and four are in the Lompoc Valley.
The Goleta Valley tallied two new cases, and the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area and the Santa Ynez Valley each reported one case.
The geographic location was pending for one case.
The county’s seven-day rolling community test positivity rate, which has a four-day lag, dipped slightly to 3% on Wednesday. At its peak during the latest surge, that number hit 21.3%, according to data compiled by Noozhawk.
Since the first case was reported back in March 2020, there have been 84,753 COVID-10 cases diagnosed in the county. Currently there are 195 cases considered “active” or still infectious.
— 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.