Public Health Confirms 37 Healthcare Workers Contract Coronavirus

Photo by Павел Сорокин from Pexels

By edhat staff

Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (PHD) reports an additional 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the County today, bringing the total to 192 confirmed cases. This total includes 37 health care workers.

Of the 37 healthcare workers, the majority have recovered. PHD is working on identifying trends within the data but so far 75 of the confirmed cases are identified as female patients with 116 males. A significant number of confirmed cases appear in North County compared to South County and PHD is looking to determine an epidemiologic profile to determine the cause.

Of the 192 cases to date, 110 are recovering at home, 34 persons are recovering in a hospital,19 of whom are in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 42 have fully recovered, and 4 are pending an update. Two deaths have been reported. The details of each case can be found here.

PHD Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso confirmed Lompoc Prison is currently experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak with at least 28 patients. The prison continues to follow strict protocol with PHD in close communication. The total number is reflected in Santa Barbara County’s confirmed cases. 

Monday marks the 18th day of Governor Newsom’s executive shelter in place order. PHD Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg commented on a slight deceleration of anticipated infections. “It gives me hope,” he said stating we’ll achieve our goal to slow down the progression of the virus as long as everyone continues to stay at home and socially distance. 

Additional testing capabilities are expected to come online later this week. Currently, PHD is averaging 80-90 tests a day with the capability to successfully test the most vulnerable populations with a quick turn around. 

When discussing the possibility of testing the general public, Dr. Stewart Comer, Lab Director Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, stated its unclear if that will happen. He expressed the biggest issue would be the question of retesting. For example, if a patient tests negative but possibly doesn’t stick to the protocol, what would their status be in five days and would that require a re-test?

Cottage Health Numbers

Below is a status update as of April 6, 2020. 

• Cottage is caring for 132 patients; 241 beds remain available.  
• In surge planning, capacity is identified for adding 270 acute care beds.
• Of the 132 patients, 11 patients are on ventilators; 49 ventilators remain available (adult, pediatric and neonatal ventilators)
• Of the 132 patients, 18 patients are in isolation for COVID-19 symptoms; 12 are confirmed COVID-19 positive.
• Of the 18 patients in isolation, 8 patients are in critical care.
• Cottage has collected 1,275 cumulative test samples: 95 resulted in positive, 1,123 resulted in negative, and 57 are pending

Ventura and SLO Counties

As of Monday evening, Ventura County reported 5 new cases for a total of 226 cases. There are 64 recovered cases and 156 active cases under home quarantine. There are 45 ever hospitalized, of those 36 had preexisting conditions, 6 with no preexisting conditions and 3 pending investigation. There have been 6 deaths.

In San Luis Obispo County, there are 95 confirmed cases. Of the 95, there are 65 cases that are fully recovered, 25 recovering at home, 4 hospitalizations, and 1 death.