If current trends continue, it appears Santa Barbara County has passed the peak in its recent surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. But with 66 community members still hospitalized, and more than a quarter of those needing intensive care, the pandemic is far from over, public health officials say.
At the Sept. 14 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting, Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso reported 63 new daily COVID-19 cases, a decrease from the last two-week average of 117 per day. The case rate as of Sept. 9 is 17.1 per 100,000, a 25 percent decrease from when Do-Reynoso briefed the board two weeks ago. Sixty-six people are currently hospitalized from COVID-19, down from the last two-week average of 72. And while 79 percent of staffed ICU beds in the county were occupied last week, now about 70 percent are taken.
“I am cautiously optimistic that we will continue to experience this downward trend in our county,” Do-Reynoso said.
Despite these improvements, Do-Reynoso also underscored the severity of the Delta variant, and how the disease can affect people of all ages. The county had one new death to report on Sept. 13: a Santa Maria individual between the ages of 18 and 29 who had underlying health conditions.
According to California Department of Public Health data that Do-Reynoso shared at the meeting, the majority of hospitalizations in August were people under the age of 64—and the vast majority of all those admitted last month were unvaccinated.
“Around two-thirds, 67 percent to be precise, represents admissions among individuals 64 or younger,” Do-Reynoso said of the August hospitalization data. “So this is a shift that we had seen before, and it’s continuing.”
The median age for COVID-19 hospital admission in August was 54 years old. But broken down by vaccination status, the data is more revealing. Among unvaccinated people admitted due to COVID-19, the median age was 52.5 years. Among vaccinated people, the median age was 80 years old. Of the 112 community members admitted during August, 10 were fully vaccinated, seven had unknown vaccine administration dates, and 95 were unvaccinated.
“So what that tells us is that the vaccines are effective in keeping people out of the hospital [and] preventing serious illness leading to hospitalization,” Do-Reynoso said.
Fourth District Supervisor and board chair Bob Nelson added that these numbers represent people hospitalized due to COVID-19, and don’t include people hospitalized for other reasons who also happen to test positive. Do-Reynoso confirmed this.
With two-thirds of eligible community members fully vaccinated, Do-Reynoso emphasized that this means a third of people haven’t received both shots yet. Given the hospital data from August, which shows that unvaccinated people are far more likely to end up in the hospital or die from COVID-19, Do-Reynoso encouraged those who haven’t yet to get their shot.
“Sometimes it’s a matter of convenience, it’s a matter of how many people in the household can all do it at once, it’s a matter of getting time off of work. It’s all those things,” First District Supervisor Das Williams said. “I want to see us do more outreach, because it’s good that we’re spending effort correcting the misinformation … but a lot of this is just about pounding the pavement, it’s just about reaching people where they are.”
This article appears in Sep 16-23, 2021.