AnonymousBy Gustavo Ingles, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara County failed its citizens by being secretive and opaque during the COVID-19 crisis.
From the moment the coronavirus was on our shores, Santa Barbara County did their best to silence community concerns, keep information hard to find, and refused to be proactive to stop the spread of this deadly virus.
When Californians watched with anxiety as a cruise ship loaded with COVID-19 patients made its way to the San Francisco Bay Area, another cruise ship anchored in the Santa Barbara Harbor. When county officials were asked if other cruise liners would be allowed to anchor off our shores, Santa Barbara County said they “didn’t know,” as reported by Channel 3.
As Monterey County was proactive to kick the cruise ships out, Santa Barbara County sat on their thumbs not knowing what to do. It took a letter from the City of Santa Barbara’s mayor asking cruise ships to cancel their planned visits before anything was done. In fact, Santa Barbara Public Health said there was “no reason to be alarmed” about upcoming visits from cruise ships. Even as the cruise ship at the center of the outbreak – the Grand Princess – was slated to disembark on our shores in April. (Again as reported by channel 3). The County prioritized cruise ship profits over the community wellbeing.
When Point Mugu was used as a quarantine destination for recent travelers to Wuhan and Hubei provinces, Ventura County provided continuous updates about each person’s medical status. The virus was in our backyard and Ventura County kept a watchful eye on its spread. In San Luis Obispo County, Camp Roberts was floated as another location for COVID-19 patients. SLO County officials warned the public ahead of time and pushed back.
As rumors swirled that Vandenberg was under consideration as a quarantine site, Santa Barbara County officials again “didn’t know” if that was accurate. Again the county was bailed out by another agency’s transparency as VAFB issued a press release dispelling those rumors.
On Feb. 28, public health officer Dr. Henning Ansorg told Noozhawk that they were prepared for a possible outbreak but were hopeful there would be no cases in our area. He even described the chance of contracting the virus as “extremely low.” “It’s just like nonexistent basically,” Ansorg told Noozhawk.
Ventura County’s public health officer, Dr. Robert Levin told the VCStar that it was inevitable that locals would eventually contract the coronavirus – and he was right. He did, however, downplay the fatality rate of the disease like most other health officials in the country.
I will credit Ansorg for hammering home the critical importance of washing your hards. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. And as the outbreak continued to inch closer and closer to Santa Barbara County, Ansorg was absent from many county public health briefings – instead opting to call in to the meetings from elsewhere. Where previous health officer Charity Dean was the face of County Public Health Department, Dr. Ansorg was the voice – nowhere to be seen. He has since remedied that in the county’s semi-regular news briefings (more on that later).
Ventura County issued a stay-at-home order for its residents 70 and older as Santa Barbara County suggested large events be canceled. It also ordered bars and venues to close and restaurants to shift to carry-out and delivery only. Days later, San Luis Obispo County did one better, a mandatory shelter at home order for ALL residents, the same orders issued by Gov. Newsom.
Santa Barbara County, to its credit, saw their neighbors enacting restrictions and decided to announce their own shelter at home order. Residents 75 and older were encouraged to shelter at home. It was a similar, yet less restrictive order than the one issued by Ventura County, THREE DAYS earlier. And rather than announce this order in a publicly televised event for the thousands of residents who have come to depend on our local news stations and online publications, they announced the order in a teleconference. Half a million people were informed that their lives would be changing drastically… in a phone call. A phone call where most local media couldn’t attend and most of the populace couldn’t tune in.
Luckily, the county was bailed out once again by a much more competent administration.
Gov. Newsom announced a statewide shelter at home order to ALL citizens, not just those who are most vulnerable. The state saw the risk of young people spreading the disease. He took the necessary steps to flatten the curve, and even with his interventions, thousands of Californians are still likely to lose their lives. Including some in Santa Barbara County.
Santa Barbara County was sure to let the public know they were “going to” announce a countywide stay at home order, but the Governor beat them to the punch. A round of applause for Santa Barbara County for almost doing the right thing in a timely manner.
Now, after Santa Barbara County’s cases begin to dwarf that of San Luis Obispo County and encroach on the number of its southern neighbor, Santa Barbara County officials are finally starting to get the memo.
The County is holding semi-regular news briefings featuring Supervisor Gregg Hart, Dr. Ansorg and County Public Health Director Van do-Reynoso (on occasion). But, even when they make the right decision, they deviate for the sake of being different. Ventura County and San Luis Obispo County are holding new press conferences every weekday and some weekends. Santa Barbara County has no clear defined schedule. A friend who works for one of the newspapers tells me that the County wouldn’t even disclose to the media where the press briefings would be held until minutes before the first briefing was held.
It’s already obvious to me that the county was unprepared. They didn’t take it seriously and they thought they could solve the issue without hurting the local economy. They were wrong. So now the question is this: why isn’t the County at the very least being transparent? Is County Public Health in over its head? Did Dr. Ansorg and Dr. do-Reynoso bungle their preparedness plan and are now covering their tracks? Is County public information director Gina DePinto trying to save face for her lack of transparency and her inability to understand how county residents ingest information? Or were the County supervisors more concerned about keeping their seats on the board, placing their focus on fighting for re-election rather than taking care of their constituents (speaking of which, where have Das Williams and Joan Hartmann been?).
And why is Cottage putting out their own numbers that differ from the official county tallies? Is Santa Barbara County trying to hide what is a much more grim outlook?
The fact of the matter is this: national health experts knew we were in trouble. State health experts knew we were in trouble. San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties knew we were in trouble. Santa Barbara County hoped that ignoring the problem would make it go away. Now we are all paying for their incompetence.
Do you have an opinion on something local? Share it with us at . The views and opinions expressed in Op-Ed articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of edhat.
Agree with you 100%. I’m appalled at how SB County Public Health has handled this, particularly compared with SLO County. Has public health been underfunded here? Is it poor management? I hope this year’s Grand Jury looks into this.
Totally agree. Cities failed too. There is no enforcement for business like restaurants or barbershops that remain open for business. Additionally, there is a huge cultural and language barrier for some community members and some of these community members are still gathering on the weekend… This disease is going to be around for a long time because of miss opportunities and the failure to be transparent.
1:28 – what community members are still gathering? Could they be from the same household and still distancing from other households? If the picnic areas are closed, then no one should be there.
As the saying goes… When every second counts is only minutes away.
Dr. Fitzgibbons with her Cottage Healthcare conference was when I realized we were all in big trouble. I can’t find that video now or the date (anyone?)—-some time in second week of March? Another Edhatter had posted the link in a comment. (**Thank you**, helpful, wise person.) After I watched the video I reposted that link, telling Edhatters they had to see it, in order to grasp the severity of the pandemic about to assault us all. As soon as I saw Dr. Fitzgibbons’ talk (and perceived the urgency couched her facts and figures), I began my own stay-at-home seclusion. When Governor Newsom declared a state-wide shelter-in-place order, I was so happy. Some in my family “didn’t get it” at first, but they all do now. I hope everyone else realizes that this virus isn’t (as Trump stated) going to miraculously “disappear.” If ever there was a time for vigilance, self-discipline and common sense—–it is now.
There will be NO PERSONAL ACCOUNTIBILITY from the anyone in the SB County Health Dept. – it just doesn’t happen, in fact , those that didn’t respond and follow though will probably get PROMOTED!
I live on the lower east side and I saw a huge back yard party in a Latino family neighbors house. Guests were parking blocks away to attend. Trust me, this community is NOT getting the message. The Chapala Market in Milpas and all the liquor stores around here have dozens of patrons coming and going and hanging close together in the parking lots.
In my opinion, I don’t think Public Health dropped the ball. Primary physicians were sending patients to Public Health clinics and they didn’t know (from what I’ve gathered) that Public Health didn’t even have testing in March. I’m not sure what the procedure is but I blame the Board of Supervisors. I like how they stay home but are asking the County “peons” to work. It shows how much our politicians care. Bottom line… they don’t. I’d like to say “thank you” to CEO Mona Miyasato for absolutely nothing. This is a mess.
I agree 100%. We were late and conservative with our orders, and lax on enforcement. We didn’t even bother telling the Spanish-speaking neighbors and businesses. Ventura was way stronger on their game than we were. SLO was earlier on their warnings than either of us. The city was busy worrying about how canceling that cruise ship would hurt tourism, and failed to even grasp the real tsunami headed their way. Clearly no one in city government reads world news. The county is at best 2-3 weeks behind. They are reporting infections that occurred 7-20 days ago. They’re not reporting demographic data, and lumped in Carpinteria, Montecito and Summerland now as some kind of “South County” zone. No one has answered why North County is infected at double the rate of South County, unless the real reason is more testing up north.
We deserve better.
Watching the County “briefing” right now but so far its been five minutes of Gregg Hart babbling and offering advice And how to obtain virtual coloring books. Why cant it just be the Public Health Doctors offering facts, as in SLO and Ventua
Mini – Did you delete the period at the end?
I should have been more clear, and said to delete the period.
I totally agree. PHD people here are a incompetent and treating the public like idiots. They should be replaced. Their secrecy from the beginning bothered me a lot. That’s an epic stupidity. It’s called a pandemic. Location info is essential to control and public anxiety. As basic as this, they failed to give out that data for many days. It was under public outcry they did eventually. I have no confidence with PHD and the current leadership. Time for you to wash hands and leave!
These clowns need to go. Life and death but they failed to their jobs well.
With a complete lack of any Federal leadership, I think it might be a little overboard leveling this much angst at was is a small backwater country program.
The failure begins In mid January with the World Health Organization which acted as a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party when it tweeted: “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,”. That outright misrepresentation of the severity of the virus caused nearly every national, state, county, and city government to flinch and pause for several weeks/months instead of massively preparing for the pandemic. Sure, blame the county, but they were lulled into their flat footed response by the lying authorities in China that allowed the unsuspecting globe to be infected with this virus.
Always blame others for your own fault? Absolutely untrue. It was so obvious Chain has changed that assessment soon and so did WHO. Why did they lock down the cities, communities? You got 2-3 months to prepare.
On point as always shasta
Agreed. Additionally, outsourcing some critical equipment and medicines required in a pandemic, to the very country of origin, revealed an Achilles Heel in our ability to respond quickly and efficiently. Forget the blame, as that changes nothing. Learning from this is the most important thing in my opinion, and changes should be implemented ASAP. It would be a shame to go through this again, having learned nothing, because it will happen again.
@TheMole, when I presented with symptoms (and as an asthma sufferer) my doctor’s office told me to contact Public Health. I tried 6 times over two days, only to get voicemail and no call back. I had to call my doctor’s office three additional times in order to finally be seen. At no time was any test offered or given. I even called Cottage about my symptoms and asked if it was possible to test – no, tests could only be ordered by a doctor or Public Health. Testing would not have changed really anything for me, as I isolated, but it did illustrate the ABSOLUTE DISCONNECT that exists.
Dude, change the channel from Fox news.
Long-time EdHat reader here, first-time commenter. I almost never read the comments on this site for the very reason that I was reminded of tonight. EdHat lost me as a subscriber for many years because I lost my desire for reading fifth grade-level arguments in comment wars, but given the circumstances of our global, national, state, county, and city crisis, I wanted to give EdHat another chance in my news cycle.
And tonight, after reading this op-ed and this chain of comments, which lacks greatly in any form of empathy or compassion, I took the time of remembering my login credentials only to share one short contribution to this conversation. I ask that you review it with an open mind, no matter how challenging this may be, and regardless of your stance on any of the aforementioned issues. Either way, I don’t plan to come back to this article ever again, so it really is for you, not for me.
My one request, on behalf of all of us: Stop judging. Start helping. We have no more time to waste.
Thank you for your understanding.
It appears Mr. Ingles does not read or watch national news. We haven’t watched TV for over 40 years, but read The NY Times daily. It was clear to us in mid February when the Princess cruise ship was held off of Japan that we were in for a pandemic. Being retired, we started cutting back on activities then. We started acting like everyone around us had the virus. We did a huge grocery run March 8 and have barely left the house since. It’s called educating yourself and taking responsibility for yourself.
I feel for you Gustavo. Many years ago I learned not to rely on government for anything. I suppose that’s why the question of being transparent/not transparent, truthful/not truthful, and so on has no affect on me simply because I don’t rely on the gov as so many folks do. Maybe I’m an anomaly being a happy fool, or maybe I’m not….either way, my approach is to take care of myself/family, and then keep my Jimmy Crack Corn attitude toward government.
Thank you to everyone doing the right thing. I still want to know why the medical workers had so few masks. Did they pass them out to friends and family during the fires or what? If not, why weren’t there any in stock? Aren’t they supposed to be prepared? We need to know when/if this crisis is over.
Sad to say Santa Barbara City and County Leadership is failing us miserably. Low numbers at the present time don’t indicate there won’t be a sudden surge Cottage Health System can only do so much and staff do get tired and are susceptible to getting ill as well. The stay at home order or request however you want to interpret it and social distancing is not taken seriously that is a set up for a surge and hopefully it won’t e anyone any of us knows or are related to. If non essential workers stay home and non essential activities are refrained from temporarily it takes that much more strain off of our health care system in the avoidance of car accidents etc also of course first and foremost unnecessary exposure to a potential Corona Virus Positive person that shows no symptoms which if you are exposed then you can spread to someone in your household. etc etc etc @ this point listening to the Mayor of LA Eric Garcetti is a great resource if you value your life and your loved ones.
The numbers of confirmed cases being released by the country cannot be trusted, with most people still unable to get tested, only the most serious cases that could get tested are included in the totals. I know multiple people sick right now with coronavirus symptoms that asked for testing and was told they do not qualify. The county should also be including presumtive cases until we can get better testing, the real numbers are likely hundreds or thousand of times higher than what’s being reported.
Agreed 100%. Hart is not a medical expert, why is he putting himself out there as the spokesperson for the county instead of letting the experts take the lead.
This disease moved much faster than the fastest speed than any bureaucracy is capable of. In hindsight, every decision is clearly seen as too late, too weak, not far reaching enough. Even those with access to the most relevant information could not react fast enough. When presented with the right preventive measures, even we/you/me/neighbors/etc could not change our social behaviors fast enough. We still have a lot of fight ahead of us to keep this from overwhelming the medical resources in our community. Looking back to blame ( which I am certainly guilty of) has no benefit. Shop for your vulnerable neighbors, maintain proper social distancing, spend money at local businesses if able.
Whomever this guy is who I have never heard of before, I believe all our Local Agencies have been doing their best and this kind of Commentary at this point is uninformed and ridiculous. Go back where you came from or go volunteer some time to something productive. This was a waste of everyones’ time!
Someone’s tin foil hat is on a little too tight.
My question is this—–
Keyt keeps showing the plans Ventura and San Luis are making for the peak when hospitals are overrun.
I have heard nothing about what Santa Barbara’s plans are.
The other counties are finding shelters for the homeless, but I have heard nothing about what is being done here.
If the county isn’t doing anything, then why is the City not stepping up?
There is and will be a serious amount of hate and furor towards our elected officials in the coming months and years. Many of these feelings are well founded. Some are not. One thing to remember is that we have people in charge of bureaucracies that have never managed anything other than a bureaucracy. Bureaucrats by their very nature are not good at managing change or adapting to a changing market or world. To think that these academic focused bureaucrats would be able to or willing to take charge in a crisis is misguided. These people are not leaders, they are not heros, they are bureaucrats. They follow, they do not lead. Bureaucrats do not take responsibility, they are not held accountable and they are not capable of rising to the need under such conditions. —||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| — In other words: You are expecting something from these people that they are incapable of providing. As long as you remember that, you’ll be less disappointed in the inaction and incompetence of our civic employees. Remember that great people ( what Steve Jobs called A players) do not work in bureaucracies because great people only want to work with other great people.
“Go back to where you came from”? Why do you assume they’re not from here?
@Antzdigger, I appreciate your willingness to comment. However, it’s a bit tired to blame edhat for comments when really this is just how people are. Check any website that offers commenting and you’ll find the same behavior. This is human nature at its best and worst. It shouldn’t stop you from supporting a local business that does a lot of good. They’re one of the few websites that actually moderates and removes inappropriate comments. If you still don’t like the comments, don’t read them. Simple as that. No need to chastise.
Do not agree with you whatsoever. Truly great leadership is possible in government and the “bureaucracies” you put down. When a giant firestorm threatened the Central Coast, it took guts and great leadership to marshal and army of firefighters. The flood in Montecito was predicted for years by a heroic Flood Control Director but ignored by a handful of politicians. If you want to blame someone, blame us, the public for voting for politicians who are bought and paid for by special interests and worse. The folks that keep the lights running, the schools operating, the sewers running when you flush, the water coming to your sink, the streets safe, and fires mitigated attacked are our true heroes, run by bureaucrats all.
The virus was predictable. It had been in China and South Korea for months, and by the time it really hit the U.S. their efforts had stemmed the tide and “curve”. Look at the statistics, they are way below the U.S. , and China has three times the population. The World Health Organization in February warned the United States to prepare the health care systems and mitigate the disease with testing. The U.S. government ignored the warnings, leaving it to governors in the States to take brave steps to close everything down, as there was nothing else they could do — no testing, no federal support or guidance and no money.
The WHO tried to get the U.S. to prepare for the epidemic and was ignored. It is convenient and untrue to say they are “Communist”.
You are citing the actions of highly trained professionals, not bureaucrats. Fire fighters are not bureaucrats. Police officers are not bureaucrats. EMT’s and ambulance drivers are not bureaucrats. Engineers and scientists are not bureaucrats. They are highly skilled people who are educated and well trained for their specific duties. We have these people in place, (many sitting idol 95% of their time) for this very reason. —– |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| —– Remember, the people who died in the debris flow died due the gross negligence of the political leaders and their inept, incompetent lackeys. If they had trained professionals at the helm, strong capable leaders and not elected politicians or appointed political hacks, something as stupid as using a bisecting road to delineate the inevitable gravitational flow of water, would have NEVER happened. Dont conflate the actions of professionals who train for these disasters with that of the idiot nincompoops who sit on their butts all day pushing paper and acting important. Bureaucrats by their very nature exist to protect their fiefdom. They are, as is the case in every insular community – a race to the lowest common denominator. Smart, competent and capable people DO NOT WANT to work with incompetent morons and our government is full of the later.
The fish rots from the head. Fails at Federal level include: US dumping PPE in huge sale to China, US ignoring prospect of pandemic, POTUS assertion it was only 15 and would be zero patients, POTUS delay intending to let cruise ship passengers twist in the wind due to “the numbers”, US failure to have testing kits – still not fixed – US failure to have substantial stockpile of cheap PPE despite huge buildup in billion-dollar war gadgets, US failure to appoint a qualified centralized command, delayed and insufficient use of DPA, cronyism/political favoritism implied intent to withold Federal stockpile from Michigan and Washington,unqualified reality show star and real estate director peddling sketchy snake oil over objection of NIAID director, failure to use Federal muscle when idiot Lousianna megahurch pastor continues to flaut shut down and Texas permits churches to engage in weekly coronavirus parties…this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Why criticize Hart for his “babbling” when it takes only five minutes or so while our President blathers on for 90 minutes or more every day with no scientific training. Yet he continues to recommend odd stuff like taking unproven medical regimens which he himself will not do! (To say nothing of undercutting the public health care specialists who recommended people cover their faces outdoors.) So much of these comments seem totally determined by the political agenda of the posting party and should always be taken in that fashion.
SLO has competent medical doctors, i.e. practicing physicians who are also pulling a double shift advising and planning for the worst. How else do you think some Calpoly facilities have been (are being) converted to overflow COVID hospital wards? Pray tell me, what have SB PHD done?? During the Thomas fire, the UCSB recreation center was a designated emergency shelter. Where are the plans to use UCSB facilities for emergency COVID care?
A few points: I have no admiration for new Supervisor Gregg Hart, winning his election with no opposition: it makes no sense why he is always at these health briefings and not the County CEO Miyasato who is definitely capable. As for the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, until there is proper universal testing, there’s no way of knowing how many cases there are. But as for the cruise ships, those visits have been part of the SB City Waterfront Department; that department makes all the arrangements for their visits and gets the revenue from them. It was mysterious why it took the Waterfront Department so long to do anything about the visits they had scheduled for the spring and fall. Finally the Princess line itself, the Grand Princess scheduled for a 3/24 (not April) visit, cancelled and then all visits were cancelled. It was said that the visits could not be cancelled until the County issued a public healthy emergency declaration, but that didn’t make any sense. (Note that the Waterfront along with the airport and a few others are enterprise funds, not within the city’s general fund.) It was not the County that “prioritized cruise ship profits over the community well-being” but the City that dawdled. This may seem minor but such inaccuracies cast doubt on the whole op-ed.
A headline from today’s LA Times: “All L.A. County residents can now get coronavirus tests”. They’ve expanded testing to all residents who have symptoms and apply to be tested. “Thanks to expanded testing capacity through city and county partnerships, there are no longer limits to who can be tested at the sites across the county.” At yesterday’s briefing in SLO county, Dr. Penny Borenstein noted that all symptomatic individuals “should be able to present to their healthcare provider or an urgent care setting and actually get tested. If they are unable, we still at public health very much want to hear from people if they are running into challenges getting tested, if they have symptoms.” She then repeated their phone number twice. Does anyone know the status of testing in SB County?
As Marathoner stated above, millions of masks were sold to China in recent months because no one here had the foresight to reserve them in case they were needed here. Good profit for the industry though.
@pit Maybe because China lied to us about the extent of the virus and we are a nation who are obliged to help others in need. If we had known, it may have worked out differently.