By edhat staff
Santa Barbara County is not eligible to move to the orange level due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, says Public Health.
Although state officials announced today that the metrics are being expanded once again as 4 million of Californians most at risk are vaccinated, Santa Barbara County fell short. Other Southern California counties such as Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside moved up to the orange tier.
During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Director of Public Health Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said the county has an adjusted case rate of 6.8 per 100,000 residents and needs 5.9 or less for two consecutive weeks to qualify. for the least restrictive orange level.
Last week, Santa Barbara County had an adjusted case rate of 5.3. “We will have work ahead of us,” he said.
The Department of Public Health attributes the slight rebound as a result of the reopening and easing of restrictions. Dr. Do-Reynoso said the pandemic is shifting nationally to younger, unvaccinated people who appear to be more mobile and social. Locally, there has been an increase in cases of people in their 20s who are college students or work in offices. Regionally, the increase is seen in Santa Barbara, Goleta, unincorporated areas of Goleta, and unincorporated northern county.
On Monday, the Department of Public Health announced that anyone 16 years of age or older is now eligible to receive the vaccine at public health vaccination sites due to a high volume of vaccine availability. More appointments will open for those 16 and over at clinics and pharmacies on April 15.
Approximately 17.3% of Santa Barbara County is fully vaccinated and 30% receive at least one dose of the two-dose vaccine.
The Department of Public Health administered 8,314 first doses of vaccines in Lompoc last week and they plan to administer 9,150 doses in Santa Maria this week and 7,530 doses in Santa Barbara next week. Click here to make an appointment.
California as a whole had administered more than 20 million vaccines, has stable hospitalization rates and has the lowest test positivity rate in the US, Governor Gavin Newsom said. In a statement Monday, Newsom said they plan to fully reopen the state by June 15.
Visit publichealthsbc.org for more information.