After two weeks of meeting the criteria, Santa Barbara County is now moving into the orange tier.
The county has seen a 21 percent decrease in active cases from April 5 to 19. Hospitalizations and intensive-care-unit rates are the lowest they’ve been since last October — hospitalizations have decreased by 63 percent and ICU cases by 71 percent. Santa Maria, most notably, saw a 53 percent decrease in cases from April 1 to 15.
The county’s adjusted case rate is 4.5 and its positivity rate is 1.8 percent. To be in the orange tier, the adjusted case rate must be below 5.9 and the positivity rate must be below 4.9 percent.
Jasmine McGinty, CEO principal analyst with the county, gave an update Tuesday about the orange tier’s impact on businesses. She said that to date there are 4,706 businesses that have submitted their attestation and have reopened.
The main difference between moving from the red tier to the orange tier, McGinty said, is that the allowed capacities change. For example, a maximum of 25 people were allowed to gather in the red tier, but in the orange tier, that bumps up to 50. While the full list of guidance will be out Tuesday evening, the state’s guidance for the orange tier can be found here.
VACCINE UPDATE
Fifty-two percent of Santa Barbara County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 29 percent are fully vaccinated.
This week, the county received 7,280 first doses and 16,870 second doses. These totals do not include federal allocations to pharmacies and other providers. Each week, allocations are ramping up more.
Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso also gave an update on the county’s mobile clinics. The goal of the clinics is to bring the vaccine to those who can’t access it, and it was built off of Public Health’s success with bringing the vaccine to seniors, homebound individuals, and homeless people.
There are five bilingual teams composed of eight or nine Public Health staff with the Santa Maria healthcare center hosting three teams, Lompoc healthcare center hosting one team, and Santa Barbara Healthcare center hosting one team. The target groups are H2-A housing, community-based mental health care and treatment centers, churches, and others.
Do-Reynoso also encourages community groups to partner with Public Health and request a mobile clinic for their employees or clients by emailing mobileclinics@sbcphd.org.
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