While all of Santa Barbara County’s COVID-19 metrics now meet the orange tier requirements in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, it won’t be able to officially move into the less restrictive tier just yet. Meanwhile, hospitalizations continue to decrease as the county progresses with its vaccine rollout.
As of April 13, the county’s test positivity rate was 1.9 percent, putting the metric into the yellow tier range. The health equity positivity rate sat in the orange at 2.7 percent, just 0.5 percent away from yellow. The adjusted case rate was 4.6 daily new cases per 100,000, solidly in the orange tier threshold. If these numbers hold or improve for two consecutive weeks, a requirement to move to a less restrictive tier, the county could exit the red tier by the end of the month.
Hospitalizations in the county continue to see steep declines over time, after hitting an all-time high of 211 on Jan. 12. Four months later, as of April 12, 17 people were hospitalized with three in the ICU. Over the past month, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients declined by 60 percent, and nearly 40 percent in the last two weeks.
The county’s vaccination efforts continue to move steadily. Of the 222,910 vaccine doses received thus far, the county has administered 117,703 first doses, 63,124 second doses, and 5,956 single doses, Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said at an April 9 virtual press conference.
But with the FDA advising that the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine be halted after six women in the U.S. developed serious blood clots, the county will pause administration of the single dose vaccine for the time being.
“Any clinics scheduled this week that originally planned to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will not be canceled, but instead use the Moderna vaccine,” department Public Information Officer Jackie Ruiz said in a statement.
Starting April 15, all community members aged 16 and older are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Santa Barbara County. Do-Reynoso said that guardians and parents must accompany minors to their appointments and give consent in order for them to be vaccinated.
Cottage Health announced on April 12 that it has 10,000 Pfizer vaccine appointments available this week at its Goleta drive-up clinic. Those interested must sign up through My Turn, the state-run scheduling hub.
The county announced the start of its phased roll out of My Turn on April 9. First-dose clinics moving forward will be released on the My Turn portal, a statement said, and those who need a second dose will receive an email to schedule it about a week before it’s due.
This article appears in Apr 15-22, 2021.