Santa Barbara County has a higher vaccination rate for the bivalent booster shot than California overall, according to state data.
The county reports about 38,000 people have received the shot, which protects against the Omicron variants of the novel coronavirus that are currently circulating.
That’s equivalent to a rate of 12.1% of the eligible population (people who are fully vaccinated), compared to a statewide bivalent booster vaccination rate of 11.4%.
Find a COVID-19 vaccine provider near you on the Vaccine Finder search function of https://www.vaccines.gov/search/. You can search for providers by location, by specific vaccine available (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson), and booster shots.
You can also find providers on the county website, publichealthsbc.org/vaccine, or at myturn.ca.gov. Some facilities offer walk-ups as well as appointments.
The county Public Health Department continues to report low numbers of COVID-19 cases, with an average of 20 new cases per day.
The testing positivity rate in Santa Barbara County has dropped to 3%, which is lower than the state’s rate of 4.1%.
However, Public Health does not collect or report the results of at-home tests, so the number of reported new cases is undercounted.
Public Health officials said Friday in a weekly update that there continues to be a decrease in local virus transmission, and the BA.5 Omicron variant is still the dominant strain in California and the rest of the United States, according to genetic testing of virus samples.
As of Thursday, there were 23 COVID-positive patients in local hospitals, including four people in intensive care units.
Recently, most of the COVID-positive hospital patients are people who were admitted for other reasons and concurrently tested positive, according to local hospitals.
Santa Barbara County reported the COVID-19-related deaths of two residents this week.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.