For the sixth day in a row, Santa Barbara County on Thursday reported fewer than 100 new COVID-19 cases, as the Omicron variant surge continues to wane.
There were 73 cases reported Thursday, according to the county Public Health Department.
The numbers for Saturday through Wednesday were 86, 81, 48, 64 and 61, respectively.
One additional COVID-19-related death was reported Thursday, bringing the county’s toll through the entire pandemic to 649 people.
The person who died lived in Orcutt, was 70+ years of age, and had no underlying health conditions. The death was not associated with a congregate-care facility.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county remained unchanged at 47, with 11 of those patients being treated in intensive-care units, a slight increase from the previous day.
There were 615 cases in the county considered “active” or still infectious, a decline of 86 cases from Wednesday.
The county’s seven-day rolling test positivity rate dipped slightly to 7.2%.
Of the new cases reported, 24 are in the Santa Maria Valley, 23 in the Santa Barbara area and nine in the Goleta Valley.
The Lompoc Valley reported seven cases, the Santa Ynez Valley and Isla Vista each had three, and the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area had one.
Three cases were pending geographic locations.
COVID-19 hospitalizations for the past seven days were down almost 31% from the previous week, while the ICU numbers dropped by nearly 20%. Cases reported declined 11.1% during the same period.
Since the pandemic began, the county has reported 84,173 COVID-19 cases.
— 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.