COVID-19 Update: October 13th, 2022

In the past week, the average of PCR confirm COVID-19 cases has decreased by 2.9%, according to the weekly summary by the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. Test positivity is currently at 4.1%, a .4% decrease from the previous week.

Public Health reports that virus transmission continues to decrease in the community and BA.5 is still the dominant strain in California and across the United States. Community levels remain low in Santa Barbara County according to CDC guidelines.

Hospitalizations have also been decreasing and ICU admissions remain low. As of October 12th, there were 18 COVID-19 positive patients in hospitals across Santa Barbara County. More info can be found about hospitalizations at https://sbcdashboard.info/#Cases

The metric for determining local COVID-19 levels can be found below and are determine using the date tracker at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=California&data-type=&list_select_county=6083

There was one death reported during the week of 9/30-10/6.

Public Health has been using a public affairs firm to update its COVID-19 website and the contract has been extended to mid-2023. The website was created to provide a consolidated source for the county’s COVID-19 response information.

Since its creation, the website has been a significant resource for individuals looking for COVID-19 information. In particular, the pages on vaccination, testing providers, and the data dashboard were visited the most.

Vaccines

According to the dashboard, 69.4% of the county has received their primary and booster doses of the vaccine.

There is an updated COVID-19 booster bivalent vaccine now recommended for children and adults.

Visit https://www.vaccines.gov/search/ to schedule your vaccine appointment.

For the most up to date information in the county, visit https://publichealthsbc.org/