Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (PHD) officials are aiming to reopen elementary schools and discussed sending a letter to the state during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
The current California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance states a county must have 25 new COVID-19 cases or lower per 100,000 population before schools can reopen. Santa Barbara County currently has an adjusted case count of 36.4.
PHD Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said her department would like to send a letter to CDPH endorsing the Santa Barbara Unified School District’s request to reopen, even though the county has not met the required case count. The letter will ask for the reopening within seven days following the submission of the letter.
During the presentation, Dr. Do-Reynoso shared a CDPH graphic discussing the “Swiss Cheese Respiratory Pandemic Defense” which recognizes that no single intervention is perfect at preventing the spread of COVID and each intervention has holes. The slide suggests using a multi-layer approach is the best option combining personal responsibilities such as physical distance and wearing masks with shared responsibilities such as testing/tracing and vaccinations.
The slide also included a quote from Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky. “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen… safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely.”
Dr. Do-Reynoso confirmed PHD’s rationale for the letter is that there are currently schools in the county that are safely open through the waiver process, disadvantaged students should have the same opportunities for in-person instructions as schools in other areas, and students need to return to in-person learning.
As of Friday, Buellton and Santa Barbara Unified School Districts have been approved for reopening.
Health Officer Dr. Ansorg also stated the department is focusing on elementary schools instead of junior and high schools because studies show there’s more virus spread among teenagers and they are able to handle online learning better than younger children.
Additionally, CDPH amended its guidance for places of worship in response to a recent judicial ruling. The capacity limits for places of worship and cultural ceremonies include churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples to resume indoor operations at 25% capacity. This also applies to cultural ceremonies like weddings and funerals.
Vaccination Update
California has initiated distribution changes for the COVID-19 vaccine. The Federal Government is allocating vaccines directly to pharmacies to service long-term care facilities through a federal partnership while providing California with a separate weekly allotment.
With the new state framework, Blue Shield of California is the third-party administrator that will be allocating vaccines to all counties through selected providers such as PHD, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, and doctors. PHD will continue serving the “safety net population” such as homeless people, undocumented community members, and those struggling with behavioral or substance abuse issues.
The county is still focused on vaccinating healthcare workers and people over the age of 75 years old, which is over 58,000 people. The next round of people eligible for the vaccine include those aged 65-74 (approximately 41,000), educators and childcare workers (22,646 people), food and agricultural workers (33,090 people), and emergency medical service workers (nearly 6,000).
Dr. Do-Reynoso addressed concerns about other counties opening up vaccines to other groups including Long Beach who is vaccinating teachers. On Tuesday morning, Ventura County also announced their COVID-19 Vaccine Phase has expanded to people aged 65 years and older.
She discussed each county makes its decision on who to vaccinate based on three variables, the number of vaccine supply, the number of community members who are eligible and who have declined, and the number of individuals in that tier or group. She also confirmed PHD did an analysis of other counties’ vaccine allotments and Santa Barbara is receiving its fair share.
Given the scarcity of the vaccine at this time, Dr. Do-Reynoso confirmed PHD decided to protect and stabilize the healthcare system by prioritizing healthcare workers and protect the most vulnerable residents over the age of 75.
Latest Numbers
Throughout all areas of the county, the majority of COVID-19 metrics are trending downward, except overall deaths have increased by 26%.
“We have lost more community members so far in 2021 than in all of 2020,” said Dr. Do-Reynoso.
From January 25 through February 8, the active cases in Santa Barbara County decreased by 51%, hospitalizations decreased by 27%, and intensive care unit (ICU) stays decreased by 20%.
All areas of the county are experiencing a decrease between 42-68% in new cases.
From January 24 through January 30, the anticipated new case count per 100,000 population is 40.1 and adjusted down to 36.4. The testing positivity rate is 10.2 and the health equity metric is 15.4.
Dr. Do-Reynoso stated it’s noteworthy that Santa Barbara County is the 8th highest county in adjusted case counts and 13th highest for testing positivity, despite being ranked 19th for population size in California.
On Tuesday, PHD reported 11 deaths and 124 new COVID-19 cases. Eight individuals were over 70 years of age and three were 50-69 years of age. Seven individuals had underlying health issues and two deaths were associated with outbreaks at congregate care facilities. Three resided in Santa Barbara, three in Lompoc, three in Santa Maria, and two in South County unincorporated.
There have now been 348 deaths.
Currently, the county has 982 active cases including 149 hospitalizations with 41 in the ICU. The county’s ICU availability is now at 19.7%.
[Ed Note: This article has been updated with the above data from Tuesday by PHD and clarification on the PHD letter endorsing SBUSD’s reopening only.]
Sac –
GREAT NEWS (though this is all contingent on hitting 25 per 100k). GUSD (shocker) is lagging behind. While SB Unified is approved and ready to go as soon as we get to the magic number (plus 7 days for teachers to prepare) Goleta is still waiting on their paperwork. I guess it was a lot harder to submit a plan when you have less schools, all of which have less students in each class and you have more money. (HOORAY FOR JAHUNGURS RE-ELECTION). Goleta is also committed to giving teachers 14 days instead of the 7.
But yes great news…a late March/early April start seems within reach!! We just need to halve our case count…everyone go take a test!!!!!!!
Finally, some common sense…from the PHD that is. The teachers union will fight bitterly against it. The district’s have done so as well, until suddenly changing their tune (see recent Op-Ed by Maldonado). Hilda and Kate Ford’s little piece was absolutely laughable, and insulting at the same time. Acting like they’re being somewhow held back and can’t wait to get back into classrooms. Really? What do you take us for, fools? We have been listening very intently to every word you’ve spoken up until now about how it wasn’t safe to go back, not to mention watching you miss your cleacut opportunity to apply for waivers months and months ago. The smart money teaching leaders did so, and their kids have been in school the whole time. No outbreaks. No panic. No excuses. Organized, efficient leadership and planning. Ever heard of it? It’ll be interesting to see how the public schools handle this. It takes smart planning and hard work. Do they have the ability?
DUKE – I think it’s despite hitting 25 per 100K, isn’t it? 25 per 100K was the existing metric, I think this was to push for something sooner. Yeah, Goleta has truly failed. Even if CDPH allows them to open in 7 days, they will likely hang desperately to their 4 week plan. If SBUSD is open while Goleta is still dragging, you can believe I’ll be at the district office DAILY with words for them. Also a bummer that the 7th-12th graders are being left out. I would think (from experience) that older kids would be easier to keep compliant than younger kids running around on the playground.
I’m continually baffled at the people who really want to dwell on what is in the past. I’d like to think that had SB and Goleta districts known we would spike like this, that they wouldn’t have waited. The plan in SB was to open in January. They likely would have opened in Oct/Nov otherwise. Nobody could have predicted a 3x increase in the number of cases in such a short time.
As far as planning goes, it’s not difficult to realize that it takes planning. All elementary schools are considering hybrid with a fully virtual at-home option. This is not easy to pull off when you have to factor in every school, every grade, every teacher, and every family’s choice. Some teachers are going to have to keep teaching virtually due to health issues. Some students are going to want to stay virtual. NO parent wants their child to have to change teachers – and the fact of the matter is, there is no way to avoid that. At the elementary level, a teacher will not be able to teach hybrid AND virtual.
Plus, the districts have already been pointing out that they will have to have a check in process, and thus they will have to stagger arrivals and departures, will have to double the number of busses for schools that have a lot of students bussed. It’s complicated.
Letmego – You have been touting this nonsense for 9 months. It’s not complicated at all. Private schools, rich kid schools, charter schools, and many others have been open. As for switching teachers, were switched 4 times in the first 4 weeks of August. We should have started in September…our school board and teachers union is to blame.
LETMEGO – You obviously are a teacher/school administrator (or parent/spouse thereof). Your job is to serve our children. You have failed that job for 11 months. Time to step up and do what you are collecting a check each month to do. The science has said it’s safe to reopen long ago…fill out the waiver and open in March! We don’t need to get under 25 cases…we just need you to actually care about the kids you are supposed to be teaching!
DUKE – GD it. I’m so sick of these teachers failing to do their jobs. And YES, you are FAILING when you refuse to do your job. Zoom school is not “teaching.” It’s supervised socializing and doing the bare minimum required. 2.5 hours a day of “instruction,” is BS. My kid isn’t learning ANYTHING other than math and some Language arts. Where is social studies? History? Anything other than the bare MINIMUM? I have multiple teachers in the family and they’ve even admitted that teaching zoom “school” is cake walk. GET TO WORK!
BASICINFO:
Oct26, from SBUSD: “I also had an opportunity to meet with the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Group and the Re-entry Advisory Task Force to learn more about their concerns, questions and thoughts. As a result we have prepared a webpage with an FAQ, reflecting the responses to many of the most frequently asked questions brought to our attention as we look to return to in-person instruction on January 19, 2021.”
Nov16: “We realize that there are many unknowns, but at this time, we will continue to plan for three scenarios, including:
In purple tier: reopening elementary grades via an elementary waiver, but remaining in distance learning at the secondary level
In purple tier: remain in distance learning for all grades
In red (or better) tier: reopening our campuses on January 19 with a Hybrid model if we are permitted to do so.”
Nov30: “As part of the meeting, we will also be discussing an elementary waiver application. An approved waiver would allow us to reopen our K-6 schools with in-person instruction, even if we remain in the Purple tier. Elementary parents will be asked to re-confirm their selection later this week for either in-person or hybrid instruction under the “purple tier.” As a reminder, the waiver is not permitted at the secondary level.”
Feb6: We wanted to keep you updated regarding our plans for reopening our schools to in-person, Hybrid instruction, as soon as we are permitted to do so.
Our district COVID Safety Plan has been approved by Santa Barbara County Public Health! Read their approval message HERE and find the plan, and more resources, on our website under COVID-19 Resources.
Letmego – I think it’s been said already. But, everything you listed was done back in the Summer. There was literally a hybrid plan released in JULY by the district. The districts have had multiple opportunities to open under a waiver when there was 1/3 of the community spread we have now and chose not to do so. I will keep looking back because this failure is too large to ignore. There is no excuse.
LETMEGO – if the people in the district offices were incapable of predicting a massive spike right after the holidays, they have no business in any profession, other than carnival work perhaps. EVERYONE knew a spike was coming. That’s why we were all pushing for November! We all said do it now, if you wait, there will be a spike and we’ll be screwed again. What happened? Exactly what the teachers union wanted – another excuse to work half assed a couple days a week with ZERO regard for our kids. BS!
So you just copy and pasted a bunch of things showing the school district failing to properly apply for a waiver so as to be able to start in the FALL…great…thanks for the memories!!!!!
But we did know in September!!!!! We just punted on each and every single option and opportunity we had! You can’t make everyone happy…but the Goleta school district (while accepting over 10 million in emergency reopening funds in the Summer via the CARES act) made no on happy and wasted millions of dollars!!! Staggered start times aren’t that hard! We aren’t talking that many kids per school. We failed…and have continued to fail since March to do anything right. STEP UP, fill out any/all waivers NOW and get open in March. STOP THE NONSENSE of saying it has to be 25 per 100K…commit to opening March 1! Do it for our kids…PLEASE!!!!!!
SACJON, I’m really sorry if you feel that your children are getting a half-assed education (Goleta, yes?) While I’m not a fan of distance learning for many reasons, I can tell that my kids’ teachers are working as hard as ever, if not harder. They are all still learning with the distance model. It’s not ideal, not by a long shot, but none of my kids’ teachers are half-assing it. I am disappointed that some teachers have a tendency to put this into the perspective of “great, I have to risk DYING so your kid can spend time in a mask 6′ from his friends.” Which…my kids are all introverts, so it’s never been about “being with their friends” to me. It’s about getting a good education. And the education is simply BETTER in person. Is virtual acceptable? Meh, it’s fine for a year but it’s not ideal. TBH, I worry more about the underprivileged kids – they should have been in person long long ago.
LETMEGO – Yes, Goleta. We’ve received a total of 2, maybe 3 emails TOTAL from our kid’s teacher this year updating us on what’s going on. He has a total of 2.5 hours of “live” learning each day, half of which is taken up with story telling and daily introductions. He’s doing great, but I KNOW he’s missing out on the education a kid in his grade should be getting. It’s not just not ideal, it’s subpar. The teacher is doing NOTHING that anyone can see to make this a fruitful year of school. I know many teachers are the same. It’s like a long vacation for most. It’s unacceptable and needs to end NOW.
@Duke: If the teachers union was so powerful, SBUSD teachers would be making more money.
@SBDUDE – the teachers make PLENTY in this area. I know many and they’re all living pretty comfortably, while enjoying months of paid vacation each year and now getting away with a whole year of minimal expectations.
Looks like HS students are still getting screwed. No plan for their return, just K-6. Talk about getting screwed over. I hope these students remember how the left wing Dems running their State gave them the middle finger. It is a tough lesson to experience first hand. How elected officials catering to political donors can overtly impose their will on the people. Dems = big gov’t = tell you what to do = keep you under their thumb so you are dependent on them = you vote for them. You would think providing kids a quality education would be a non-partisan issue that everyone could get behind – but sadly no. Public teacher unions are too powerful. I see lower cost private schools being more prevalent – especially if big gov’t continues to put the kabash on charter schools.
SBLocal, judging by how quickly you got 3 downvotes I’d say you hit the nail on the head. If it was really about children, both the education and overall wellbeing of children, schools would have been open last spring, or in the fall at the very latest. When other states and countries kept their schools open, when the CDC says schools are the safest place kids can be, while our schools remained closed, I’m not sure what other party you can blame in this single party state.
I’m not the one ignoring the CDC, the teachers unions are. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told reporters his agency never recommended schools close in the spring nor has he recommended they do so now. “The truth is, for kids K through 12, one of the safest places they can be from our perspective is to remain in school,” direct quote. No mention of community infection rates. If you weren’t ignoring information you didn’t like you’d know the CDC takes this position, regardless of community infection rates, because the rate of transmission in schools (for both teachers and kids) is less than the greater community. Meaning…. it is literally safer for teachers and kids to be in school than not be in school
Ignore the community rate and open too soon, and you condemn your family to the cycle of closure and quarantine being experienced by the schools that have reopened, regardless of whether the kids pick up their infections at school or in the community. Exposing the teachers and their families unnecessarily is just icing on your cake.
The party line for Dems is always “of course we want kids back in school … when it is safe”. And they do not define what it means to be safe. I would argue a teacher in inner city Chicago has a higher risk of getting shot going to school, than getting sick from Covid. Do teachers go to the grocery stores, gyms, get gas, or whatever – sure they do. Like most people they are in the community doing things where there is a higher risk of interacting with a non-mask wearer than in a highly sanitized public school setting.
425pm – This comment isn’t based on fact, reality or logic. Schools are open all over the world, the US and SB. You have succumbed to illogical and unfounded fear. You are ignoring health recommendations… and reality…
On what planet are remote teachers “working as hard, if not harder, than ever?” My 6th grader herself has said that online school was a joke. Thankfully, she has been in-person at a private school since October, along with ALL of the 6th-12th graders on campus. Outdoors, in masks, in small cohorts, learning, thriving and happy. The majority of even the public schools in our area of the county have also been open now for a couple of months. Stop with the excuses. They are harming an entire generation. Teachers who do not want to actually teach anymore must find a different line of work already.
Ignore the science and remain closed and you condemn the kids to the current disaster.
It’s February 2021… the ship for opening “too soon” sailed a long LONG time ago!!! The Teachers union needs to be held accountable for this train wreck.
I mean, I have a few friends who are teachers. I (unfortunately), have to sit through the entirety of my youngest child’s virtual school. It’s hard. What she is doing is hard. And the work to differentiate students remotely, solve IT problems, organize the additional online learning platforms, assign and grade work through the new platforms (and send it back when it’s not good enough), spend extra time working with the kids who are behind (outside of class). I imagine that “teachers are working harder than ever” really depends entirely on the teacher and the school. You do realize that your experience might not be the same as everyone else’s?
@Letmego, I do realize that the experience of others MAY be different – as a school parent, however, literally every other parent I’ve spoken to has had the very same experience, so I’m not sure where to search for this outstanding sample of parents who are pleased with how it’s all been going for almost a year. To your point of the details of remote learning being difficult, I maintain that they are not working “harder,” they are just working differently. When the first 15 minutes of each Zoom session is dedicated to IT problems, etc. the structure of the remote class needs to change and time needs to be added for actual learning, not trying to get Billy off of mute. I fear you have oversimplified the situation but I do admire your rosy glasses (I do mean that in the best possible way).
Zoom/remote learning is an absolute cop out at this point. It’s always been a pathetic band aid compared to in-school learning. An emergency measure. Better than nothing. That was the original intent. The local teachers’ union rep. has stated that some teachers may retire on the spot if forced to go back to in person learning (see Noozhawk). Well, go ahead. Please do. Just get out if you can’t do your job. What a disgrace to your profession.
I am totally fine with this option to retire. If it’s a job they no longer want, we can find someone else who does.
I know 5 teachers personally, I intimately- They all want to be back in the classroom- The teacher I am closest to has aged 5 yrs in the last year teaching remotely…. Total stress case.
Private school kids can likely isolate and quarantine if something happens in their household. Public school kids from families with cramped housing cannot. That might be a difference to consider in evaluating the potential for spread in public schools. One 8th grader I know shares his bedroom with his 2 brothers, one of whom has underlying conditions.
And tons of kids we all see and know are our and about and then at home. Are you willfully ignoring the science that says schools being open is the safer scenario for everyone…or what?
I’ll admit I was wrong about teachers having access to vaccines… I was wrong! I was basing it on our Goleta preschool (who the wife just let me know had all the teachers go to Ventura to get it) and a teacher friend in Long Beach which, along with a few other counties in Cali, have put teachers at the front of the line. I thought that was Cali wide… my bad!
I stand by the cdc recommendation though that schools being open is the safer option (vaccine or not) and that we have willfully chosen the worse option to appease the insanely powerful teachers union. The online zoom school is a joke… not sure what 6th grade class you were looking at, but it’s terrible.
I will take your teaching job if you are afraid to go to work.
If you wont teach get out of the way.
The future depends on you(teachers) and if your union is so dense and self serving,
GET OUT OF THE WAY.
What a bunch of lunacy! But they all know better, and that’s how we got to the miserable situation we are in today!
SBDUDE – Yes, it’s a vast conspiracy…all the private schools, pre-schools and rich kid public schools (plus just schools all over the country and world). But to answer your question, yes…there is data from all over the world showing less community spread in places with school in place. Will a class here or there have to pause for 2 weeks…YES! But that’s life…and is a perfectly acceptable situation considering the alternative is full time forever ZOOM. Follow the science and open up March 1st!!!
Pretty funny applying for a teacher job with sentences with multiple errors. Go for it and see if they would hire you.
We obvioulsy run in different circles, as I don’t personally know a single parent that doesn’t want there kid back in school right now. So…your “good 25-35%” can opt out and stay online…that’s a choice they will have…the time to open is now (or well 5 months ago…but whatever…SERENITY NOW)!
HOLY HELL…THEY FINALLY DID SOMETHING!!!!! Spring classes are happening… crack the Champaign…we’re (almost) back!!!
Good news but still pisses me off, what has changed since September that now makes opening “safe” on March 1st ? They played politics with our children’s lives and as voters we must hold them accountable for not placing the students well-being above all else.
VOR – I will forever be completely floored that the Goleta School Board was re-elected in November… at the time it made no sense and in hindsight somehow makes even less sense! They did everything wrong…and somehow they all got re-elected! We should have started in September and added a week or two to Christmas break.
China unleashing a pandemic on the world is “how we got to the miserable situation we are in today”.