There were 73 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Santa Barbara County on Saturday, but no new fatalities, according to the county Public Health Department.
The number of patients being treated in local hospitals declined to 82, the lowest it has been in 12 days.
Of those, 27 were being treated in intensive care units, down from 25 on Friday.
Of the new cases, 36 were in the Santa Maria Valley, nine were in Santa Barbara, four each were in Lompoc and the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area, three each were in Isla Vista and the unincorporated areas of the Goleta Valley, two were in Goleta, and one was in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Geographic locations were pending on 11 cases.
The county’s seven-day rolling average test-positivity rate dropped to 9.9 percent from 12.5 percent the previous day, with Saturday’s rate at 6 percent of 1,192 tests. The state’s metric target is below 8 percent.
The number of COVID-19 deaths in the county remained at 69.
— 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.