COVID-19 data presented to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on June 16 reveal some of the reasons for the disproportionately high number of cases in Santa Maria.
“Like other jurisdictions, we are seeing that communities who have to work … do have a higher incidence of positivity,” county Public Health Director Dr. Van Do Reynoso said during the presentation. “We also know that in communities with higher crowded living in one household, there [is] more likelihood of high positivity.”
She also said that the population in North County has higher rates of comorbidities—more than one disease or condition at a time—and chronic disease conditions, which likely contribute to the higher coronavirus numbers.
The first cases of COVID-19 in the county belonged to residents in North County, and since then Santa Maria continued to see elevated cases, Do Reynoso said.
“In order to better understand why that was happening, we began an in-depth retrospective study on the confirmed cases,” she told the board. “Our team called the confirmed cases and asked a series of questions that gave us some indication about the family, about the living situation, about the work situation in order to understand why we were seeing the higher disparate number of cases in Santa Maria.”
The survey included data up to May 27, 134 cases from Santa Maria, and 210 cases from outside the city. Do Reynoso said this sample size of 344 total reflects the cases who “agreed to be interviewed.”
Do Reynoso shared a map showing the density of cases in Santa Maria, with darker shades indicating a higher number of confirmed cases. She explained that “these neighborhoods typically have apartments and residences with crowded living conditions,” as well as “more congregate settings,” such as nursing homes.
The survey also looked at place of employment as a potential contributing factor to higher infection rates. It found that 20 percent of Santa Maria cases were agricultural workers, the largest percent among surveyed occupations. Health care (patient care) workers followed at 7 percent.
For non-Santa Maria cases, health care (no patient care) workers were the highest at 13 percent. Agriculture employees only represented 5 percent of those cases surveyed outside of Santa Maria.
A separate, countywide data set included confirmed community coronavirus cases by race and ethnicity through May 8, with a sample size of 443. The numbers revealed that 68.1 percent of cases were Latino/Hispanic. Only 47.9 percent of the county population is Latino/Hispanic, “indicating an overrepresentation of Latino/Hispanics with coronavirus,” county Senior Epidemiologist Joy Kane said during the presentation.
This data also showed a correlation between income and confirmed cases. In parts of the county with less than 10 percent area poverty, the age-adjusted rate of cases per 100,000 was 97.4. In places with 20 to less than 30 percent of area poverty, the age-adjusted rate of cases per 100,000 was 141.1.
However, Kane also said, “More persons with lower income are seeking out testing and are testing positive.”
Do Reynoso concluded the presentation by stating that the county is pursuing partnerships to increase health insurance coverage and access to health care, as well as more educational initiatives, to address these disproportionate numbers going forward.
This article appears in Jun 18-25, 2020.