COVID Cases Continue Downward Trend in Santa Barbara County
Cases and Hospitalizations Down from September; 13 New Deaths Reported in October
Santa Barbara County Public Health officials reported 39 new COVID cases as of this Monday, 262 still active cases countywide, 35 hospitalizations, and 516 total deaths. To put those numbers in perspective, on September 30, those numbers were 113 new cases, 445 active cases, 45 hospitalizations, and 503 deaths.
Perhaps the key metric watched by public health officers when gauging intensity of proscribed mandates is number of new cases per 100,000. As of Monday, that number — blended to include both the vaccinated and unvaccinated — was 11.5. That number for vaccinated individuals was 4.5 compared to 20.8 for the unvaccinated. On September 30, those numbers were 25 per 100,000 and 14.2 respectively.
At this point, 70.1 percent of those eligible for vaccinations are fully vaccinated; 77.9 percent of that population has had at least one shot. Countywide, 59.3 percent of the total population has gotten shots.
Of the most recent new cases, white people outnumbered Latinos, 20 to 14. Typically, it’s been the other way around. Latinos make up 47 percent of the county’s population and 38 percent of the vaccinations to date. White people, who make up 42 percent of the population, comprise 39 percent of the vaccinations.
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