Seven more COVID-19-related deaths were reported by Santa Barbara County public health officials on Thursday, boosting the total novel coronavirus fatalities over the last two weeks to 33.
Of the latest deaths reported, four were people ages 70 or older, and three were in the 50-69 age group, according to the county Public Health Department.
Three lived in the Santa Maria Valley, two in the Lompoc Valley, and one each in the Santa Barbara area and the Goleta Valley.
All had underlying health conditions, and two were associated with congregate-care sites, which include skilled-nursing, assisted-living, and long-term care facilities, as well as jails and prisons.
The Lompoc Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation Center has reported two COVID-19 deaths of residents in January, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data.
These are the first COVID-19-related deaths been reported among skilled nursing facility residents since October 2021.
The Public Health Department on Thursday also reported an increase in patients in local hospitals who have tested positive for COVID-19, as well as those being treated in intensive-care units.
The hospitalization numbers rose to 126 from 113 the previous day, while the ICU numbers jumped to 20 from 13.
Those both tend to be lagging indicators — generally two to four weeks later — compared to the number of cases being reported.
The county reported 479 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, pushing the total for the entire pandemic to 80,034 cases.
The number of cases reported in the last seven days is down more than 61% compared to the previous week, according to data compiled by Noozhawk.
“Active” or still-infectious cases declined to 3,436, the lowest number since the beginning of January.
Of the new cases reported Thursday, 246 are in the Santa Maria Valley, 65 are in the Lompoc Valley, and 61 are in the Santa Barbara area.
The Goleta Valley reported 38 cases, Isla Vista tallied 36 cases, and the Santa Ynez Valley totaled 17 cases.
There were six cases reported in the Montecito-Summeerland-Carpinteria area, and 10 cases were pending geographic locations.
Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office reported that only seven inmates remain with active COVID-19 infections at County Jail facilities, of the 252 that have tested positive in the outbreak that began Dec. 8.
— 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.>