COVID-19 Update: July 27, 2022

County Updates

The county reported 1,360 new COVID-19 cases this past week. Due to the increasing use of rapid antigen tests at home, the number is a conservative estimate. Test positivity is currently sitting at 14.9%. It has decreased from the previous week by 1.3%, despite a steady increase since last April.

There were 40 COVID related hospitalizations as of Monday July 25th. Santa Barbara county reported four coronavirus related deaths in the past week.

Vaccine Rate

The vaccine rate is currently 68.9% with the highest vaccinated group being those over 65.

Those with the lowest rate are children ages 0-4, who only were given the go ahead to get vaccinations within the past month.

Unvaccinated people are 5.9 times more like to get COVID-19 than people who have received their booster dose, according to state data.

The Public Health Department reports that the latest and most contagious strain of the Omicron variant, BA. 5 is more much more likely to reinfect people, although it is difficult to quantify the exact number of reinfections.

The county has started tracking local virus transmission through wastewater samples. By wastewater surveillance, the county can track and ideally prevent a spike before it happens.

Check out the latest Covid information on the Santa Barbara County Community Data Dashboard.