Five Additional COVID-19 Deaths Reported

Update by edhat staff

Santa Barbara County Public Health reports two additional COVID-19 deaths today, adding to three others from this weekend, related to the outbreak at a skilled nursing facility in Santa Maria.

Both individuals resided in the City of Santa Maria and were over 70 years of age with underlying health conditions. One death was related to the outbreak at Country Oaks Care Center bringing the total to 9 deaths attributed to this outbreak.

“We sympathize each day for the many people from our community who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Reopening businesses and public spaces safely requires every one of us to make physical distancing and wearing face coverings part of our everyday lives to prevent increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths,” said Henning Ansorg MD, Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer.

As of today, there are 2,446 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County, 990 cases are at the Federal Prison in Lompoc, 1,456 are community cases, and 1,956 have fully recovered. There have now been a total of 27 deaths.

There were 217 new cases added from Saturday through Monday, the majority of which are located within the City of Santa Maria. Of the 1,456 community cases, 1,110 are located in the north county of Santa Barbara including the 816 cases located in Santa Maria. 

More information on the total numbers can be found here


Source: Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
June 22, 2020
 

Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (PHD) reported three additional deaths this past Saturday among individuals who tested positive for COVID-19. All three individuals resided in the City of Santa Maria, were over 70 years of age with underlying health conditions, and are related to the outbreak at the Country Oaks Care Center. As of June 21, there were 2421 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County, 989 cases at the Federal Prison in Lompoc, 1432 community cases, and 1924 individuals fully recovered.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones and communities surrounding these individuals. As we continue to address areas of concern, we encourage the community to practice frequent and thorough hand washing, wear facial coverings, and avoid unnecessary trips outside the home.” said Henning Ansorg MD, Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer.

Although most cases of COVID-19 exhibit mild or moderate symptoms, PHD recommends additional measures to prevent exposure among vulnerable people, including the elderly and those with underlying health conditions (such as diabetes, cancer, immunodeficiency, asthma, COPD and others). PHD recommends that all residents:

  • Stay home when possible. The State’s Stay at Home Order remains in effect.
  • Remain six feet away from others and wear a facial covering when engaging in tasks away from home.
  • Wash your hands with soap and water regularly.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
  • Stay home when you are sick. Do not go to work or other places. 

 

For general questions about COVID-19 and precautions currently recommended by Santa Barbara County Public Health, residents may call the Santa Barbara County Call Center at (833)-688-5551.  The Call Center is open weekdays (except for holidays) from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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  1. 4th of July is around the corner. With no enforcement of businesses downtown and people out and about without masks or social distancing I foresee far more deaths and infections. We all need to buckle down and stay in to protect each other. I pray they roll back the openings. The Public Health Director moved way too fast when the public still was not wearing masks or social distancing.

  2. We can’t “roll back” on reopening, we can pause but cannot roll back. I’m glad some of you have unlimited income or are trust fund babies but 99% of us need to work for a living, even if we have a savings it won’t last forever. Since when did we expect life to be risk free? And since when were we supposed to live inside until Covid disappears? I hope Santa Barbara realizes a repeat closure is simply not an option.

  3. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 grew 16% over the last two weeks as California reported more than 46,000 new cases of the virus, ICU admissions jumped 11% in the paat 2 weeks. At that rate give it a month, as it spreads exponentially and you’ll start to see hospitals piling bodies in freezers. Republicans had no plan to open the economy other than to get upset about wearing masks and whine the gym isn’t open.

  4. How so? Because I don’t believe in economic shutdowns? That makes me entitled? Because I know people that if they miss one month of income they will become homeless and I’m fighting for their right to work? I’m sorry but if routing for a healthy economy and a healthy persons right to a decent living over people that have underlying health conditions over 70 is entitled then f*ck it I guess I am entitled.

  5. Have any of you that are still panicked about this virus bothered to look at both the world and U.S. numbers recently? Italy, for example, has been flat for several weeks, both in cases and deaths; they reported 23 deaths yesterday; there were 919 on March 27. The head medical expert yesterday in Italy proclaimed their studies are proving the virus has already mutated to the point where it is so far less lethal now than a several weeks ago that it is showing to be dangerous to, reaffirming once again, only the elderly and people with other worrisome health issues. Ditto for the U.K and many other countries. The U.S. has been steadily and rapidly declining in deaths since mid-May, while cases have remained just about the same, even with more testing being done. Others here have said that many times recently. Protect the elderly and the people with known and diagnosed underlying health conditions, but please get over the belief that there could be a “surge” or is not weakening in any way. I would guess almost everyone has some “underlying health condition” that they don’t know about; otherwise we might possibly live forever. So to say someone “didn’t have any health issues and they got it” is nonsense. Viruses are nondiscriminatory in who they infect, but the ability to fight off a virus is individual. It will be interesting to see if Trump and others who suggested this virus will disappear on its own may eventually be proven correct. It happened with the Spanish flu and various other viruses, so there is no reason to believe it isn’t or can’t happen with COVID19. And, yes, another lethal virus one will come along to replace it at some point. That is the history of the world, unless you care to re-write it.

  6. 420722 – Nope, that’s not how logic works, at all. Did you forget about the whole contagious part? It spreads from dummies to imbeciles to people who were trying to keep healthy but got coughed on, spit on, sneezed on, etc….

  7. @1:08 – Your assessment of the current state of the pandemic is ignorant, amateurish, driven by agenda – and lacking facts. Of course Italy has fewer cases now – their curve flattened. The USA is the hot spot now. Do a little more work other than read what the right-wing rags want you to think. Health experts say it doesn’t look like the virus has mutated to be weaker. Rather, this observation is likely a result of amplified testing capabilities and increased physical distancing measures.

  8. Narcissist’s Prayer:
    (1) That didn’t happen. (2) And if it did, it wasn’t that bad. (3) And if it was, that’s not a big deal. (4) And if it is, that’s not my fault. (5) And if it was, I didn’t mean it. (6) And if I did, you deserved it….. I would say we are at about number 4 with a lot of people who did not take this virus seriously.

  9. Interesting how Korea, China, German, Japan and other countries have squashed the outbreak. I guess that’s what good management looks like. Or I guess folks waiting for it to disappear on its own may eventually be proven incorrect.

  10. @ 2:31: look at World of Meters. Your comments regarding the USA are completely debunked according to the factual data reported. That data has nothing to do with “right-wing rags.” But it is funny your comments come directly from Healthline, well-known for their left-wing investors and advertisers.

  11. Worldometer (not that it’s singular) is not a very reliable site as far as data quality. You’d be better off with a real medical site like Johns Hopkins University. “Worldometer has faced criticism over transparency of ownership, lack of citations to data sources, and unreliability of its COVID-19 statistics and rankings. The website reported that 18,000 people recovered from coronavirus in Spain on April 24, compared to the Spanish government figure of 3,105 recoveries for that day.” – Wikipedia

  12. Everything isn’t about politics. There are some really obnoxious republican anti-maskers. But I saw a lot of democrat protesters without masks and have yet to see a student (presumably mostly democrats) with a mask. Rudeness, denial, and lack of hygiene knows no political boundary.

  13. I have already talked to county supervisors that have told me not only will they not open the personal service industry due to rising cases but if they keep going up, they will reclose some of the exsisting businesses that are open. Assume he means stage 3 business such as bars gyms etc

  14. @402 World of Meters is a joke – again, your assessment is ignorant. As of Sunday, the U.S. seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases increased more than 24% compared with a week ago, according to Johns Hopkins data. Cases are growing by 5% or more in 25 states across the U.S., including Arizona, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma. Hospitalizations and deaths are soon to follow.

  15. Despite a rising number of infections this has not translated into a rising number of deaths. I know there can be a lag time, but even in states like Florida and Texas this is the case. Peak daily deaths occurred back in April even though many locations are reporting double the cases now. For the average healthy person under 70, the virus looks like it’s losing its lethality. Go to Worldometer, and go to the CA COVID-19 public dashboard. With very few exceptions all counties in Ca peaked in daily deaths in the April, early May time period. The CA COVID-19 dashboard also has ICU stats too. Although there is some recent rise in SB, most locations in the state still are not matching the peaks seen in April.

  16. Everyone wanted to complain when testing was limited. Now everyone wants to complain that we are doing more tests and seeing more positive results. With 80% of “positives” going undetected it is to be expected that more testing gives you more positives. More people down the chain of contact tracing are getting testing due to mandates from their employer. 2 months ago you weren’t getting tested unless a positive person kissed you.

  17. I agree except for the fact that even in a healthy economy people make poor financial decisions. Given all the regulations put in place during Covid-19, I find it difficult to believe someone will be homeless after one month of no income without previous months of poor financial decisions.

  18. Santa Barbara County ICU admissions increased 25% in the past 7 days. 23% of ICU beds are now occupied by COVID-19 patients. I can seem to find any data that states the remaining number of ICU beds available, but I’m sure some are occupied by non-COVID-19 patients.

  19. Per SB County Public Health.
    June 17 – 267 Active Cases
    June 19 – 315 Active cases.
    June 22 – 266 Active Cases.
    266 Active cases out of 445,000 residents is 0.05% of the County population.
    Interpret the data from the County as you will.

  20. By percentage, potif. There are many more people in the 18-69 group. And those over 70 are more likely to be seriously ill and to die. If that weren’t the case, the difference in likelihood wouldn’t matter much.

  21. We may have to roll back. But honestly, if people were diligent about hand washing, wearing masks, keeping social distance when out and about and, well, quarantining…we won’t have to. Yeah, I know you are bored, and your kids are bored, but letting your kids play with their 6 best friends…not a great idea. Going bar hopping with 10 people…nope. Graduation or birthday parties, even outdoors, with 30-50 people, are you kidding?? Expand your cohort if you must, but maybe pick a family or two that are also being safe.

  22. I see you are not familiar with exponential growth. I hope you don’t have to become familiar, but at this rate, it’s where we’re headed. Do not be fooled by “low” numbers, tens of thousands of different non-locals visit SB every. single. day. in summer.

  23. 7:11am – Of COURSE we can blame Republicans if they’re the ones running around crying about having to wear masks and refusing to do anything to protect themselves or those around them. It’s not the leaders’ faults, it’s those who are acting like spoiled children who don’t want to wear a mask or stay home. It is 100% the fault of those who are out congregating, not wearing masks and being petulant. Who are those people? Well, mostly Republicans “exercising their free-dums.”

  24. LETMEGO – exactly! Here’s a GREAT example for all those bootstrap pullin’, hardworking, law-fearin’ Republicans….. The law says don’t kill people. A bunch of murderers go out an kill people. Who’s fault is it? The lawmaker’s fault? Well, if you were to blame the lawmakers for the actions of the criminals, you’d be a pretty poorly trained “Republican,” in fact you’d be a liberal! I mean for freak’s sake, you repubs are always preaching about personal accountability and now, when you need to take some, you say “oh no, it wasn’t my fault! It was my Governors fault!” Grow up and practice what you preach kids.

  25. That’s the thing about exponential curves, RELOAD: they have a very un-dramatic beginning, then boom, you’re skyrocketing. It’s okay, we don’t have to agree, I can wait until the numbers are more convincing to you.

  26. Campgrounds jam packed with people are how this thing spreads, way to go! Now my kids won’t be able to play sports and go to school even longer because you selfish folks needed to go “camping!” People suck.

  27. 11:06, none of the face covers and distance restrictions will ever “beat” the virus. It won’t go away until herd immunity is achieved, and some suggest that may never happen. We could “lock down” for years, and the virus would simply pick up where it left off when the restrictions ended. If you feel that camping is too dangerous, keep in mind that camping is nothing compared to kids in a traditional school environment. We need to start asking some hard questions. Are we going to deny a generation of children the traditional experience of attending school over the next several years? I don’t think it’s feasible or practical to continue interfering in the lives of healthy young people. It’s time to let people start living again and shift focus to protecting the elderly and vulnerable.

  28. CHIP – good points actually. I think we need to be far more careful and do what we can to lower the risk of infection. No, we won’t beat it with masks and distancing, but we sure can lower the risk of everyone getting it at the same time. I’m nervous about school. I allow my kids to play with certain friends from families who I know are taking this seriously but still not sure about large groups of kids whose families and safety practices I don’t know. The kids are suffering right now from the lack of play and interaction through camps and sports, but then again, is it safe? I just don’t know. I DO know though, that I’m going to do everything I can within reason to lower my risk of exposure and I expect everyone else to do the same thing. We’re all in this together and some people need to quit being so selfish.

  29. Actually the lack of masks/social distancing looks pretty well spread among ages and political spectrums. The beaches and IV are pretty packed and sure there are masks but people are pretty close to each other…and that bandana isn’t stopping all that much!! So, sure we can try and lay it on Covidiots as some on here like to say, but the disregard is pretty well spread at this point…in fact I’d wager it’s definitely tipped pretty heavily towards the youth whom (in this town/state/country) tend to lean pretty far left…

  30. Cherry pick the data why doncha? Ventura County data has consistently shown that 12% of those testing positive end up in hospital. 1/3 of those go to the ICU. 1/2 of those die. Extrapolate those numbers to the US as a whole- 340,000,000 to 40,000,000 hosp to 13,000,000 ICU to 6,500,000 dead. So if we just let it spread throughout the population without checks, 6.5 million dead people that had their lives shortened.

  31. Exactly, SACJON. CHIP, masks are not about beating the virus, masks are about keeping the numbers low enough that we don’t overwhelm our hospitals. People are and have been dying without adequate medical care in other countries, developed countries even. We cannot be so naive to believe that this can’t happen here – it absolutely can. With the delay between exposure/symptoms, we cannot afford to test the waters with no masks on, young OR old.

  32. Use crazy enhanced numbers why doncha? It stands to reason that the majority of those tested so far have had symptoms…that’s why they are being tested. The 95% of people that are asymptomatic aren’t being tested for the most part. So…a nice little bit of fear mongering to go with your sarcasm. It’s a scary situation…but posts like yours are irresponsible as they obviously inflate and exaggerate. We really don’t need that now…

  33. “Wait a second…. you cannot blame Republicans in a state with a Democrat governor” You can when its the President acted so slowly continually downplaying the virus – and It wasn’t the democrats marching and whining about having to wear a mask. Look at the southern states.

  34. Testing shows that less than 5% of the population has had it with 110,000 dead. If everyone gets it, the number of dead is X= 110,000/17,000,000*340,000,000= 2,200,000 dead. No matter how you analyze it with real numbers, that is a lot of dead people. Sorry if you don’t like numbers.

  35. I do like numbers! I also like that in one quick exchange we just “saved” 4,300,000 American lives…wouldn’t take much more than 1-2 exchanges to “shave/save” another million or so but it’s lunch time so I’ll get back to you post lunch and we’ll “save” another million!

  36. True…but a lot of people were mass gathering to hit the beach…protests…bars…coffee shops…etc…and I’d hazard that at least a few of those were Democrats. So is it the message board complaining that offends you??? Because the indifference is everywhere…and most acutely in our 14-24 year old crowd.

  37. Dukie, sorry I can’t give you a precise number but that is how science works. Mostly you can provide a range of results when you are in the middle of the experiment. At the end of the experiment I can give you a better number by counting the number of death certificates issued this year compared to last year. Still, we are talking about millions, not tens or hundreds, if we let this disease spread uncontrolled. Science is so frustrating for some people- I apologize in advance.

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