There has been a slight increase in COVID-19 cases in Santa Barbara County — with an average of 25 new cases per day, according to the county’s data dashboard — and hospitalizations are continuing to decrease.

According to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department’s Friday report, the weekly average of reported PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased by 4.1% over the last seven days.

The weekly average of new cases has been steadily decreasing since late July, and this is the first week in months that an increase has been reported. Public Health notes that the reported number of cases is always an undercount since rapid antigen test results are not reported. 

One COVID-19-related death was reported this week in Santa Barbara County. Public Health has reported the COVID-related deaths of 733 county residents since the beginning of the pandemic. 

On Thursday there were 14 COVID-19-positive patients hospitalized throughout the county and none in intensive-care units.

A week prior, Nov. 3, there were 19 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in local hospitals, with three of these patients in intensive-care units.

Santa Barbara County remains in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s low COVID-19 community level.

The COVID-19 vaccine is available for everyone age 6 months and older, and the bivalent booster is available for everyone age 5 and older.

As of last Friday, Santa Barbara County providers have administered 917,440 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and booster doses, and 69.7% of county residents are fully vaccinated by completing the primary vaccine series. About 14.2% of county residents have received the bivalent booster.

— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.