County Reports 72% Employees Fully Vaccinated; Community COVID-19 Case Rate Declining noozhawk.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from noozhawk.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Jade Martinez-Pogue, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @MartinezPogue
February 3, 2021
| 3:41 p.m.
January proved the be the deadliest month of the pandemic in Santa Barbara County, and the death toll continues to rise as Public Health officials reported a record-breaking 13 additional COVID-19-related fatalities on Wednesday.
Twelve of the individuals who died were over the age of 70, and one was between the age of 30 to 49.
Seven of the deaths were associated with outbreaks at congregate care facilities and 11 had underlying health conditions, according to Public Health.
Seven of the deaths were from Santa Barbara, four were from Santa Maria, one was from the unincorporated area of Goleta, and one was from the city of Lompoc.
KEYT File
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Chief Probation Officer Tanja Heitman with the Santa Barbara County Probation Department reported that one staff member at Santa Maria Juvenile Hall (SMJH) recently tested positive for COVID-19.
The probation department said the staff member last worked at the facility on Jan. 25 and was tested for COVID the following day.
As a precaution, in coordination with the Public Health Department and the facility’s medical unit, the department conducted contact tracing of staff and youth for potential exposure. Fortunately, all youth and staff reportedly tested negative.
For more information on the probation department s approach to COVID-19, visit www.sbprobation.org.
By Brooke Holland, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @BT Holland
January 15, 2021
| 9:12 p.m.
With a post-holiday COVID-19 surge unfolding, the spread of the virus in Santa Barbara County is the highest of all California counties.
Speaking at the weekly press briefing on Friday, Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso explained the reasoning behind that latest data and how the county is in dire straits amid the raging pandemic.
“The rate of COVID-19 spreading is higher in Santa Barbara County than any other jurisdiction in California,” Do-Reynoso said. “These are grim numbers extremely, extremely concerning.”
The county s effective reproductive number, also called the R-effective, is the average number of people that each infected person will pass the virus onto, and it represents the rate that COVID-19 is spreading, according to the California Department of Public Health. The average R-effective number uses estimates from Covid Act Now, the
Chief Probation Officer Tanja Heitman reported Friday that a staff assigned to the Santa Barbara Probation Department’s Santa Maria Juvenile Hall (SMJH) recently tested positive for COVID-19.