Santa Barbara County on Sunday continued to experience an alarming increase in daily cases of COVID-19, with 779 new virus-related infections breaking records.
Sunday marked, by far, the highest number of COVID-19 cases since the county’s first positive case in March.
The previous high was 512 cases three days earlier, on January 7th.
No new deaths from COVID-19 were reported in the county on Sunday.
The total number of positive cases in the county increased to 21,323 and the cumulative death toll remained at 197.
Updated COVID-19 hospitalization data in the county, including the number of patients in need of treatment in intensive care units, were not available Sunday, according to the Santa Barbara County community data board.
The information “will be reported as soon as it’s available,” the county’s public health department said.
Of the new cases on Sunday, Santa Maria had 205, Santa Bàrbara made 183, the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area recorded 64, Lompoc had 60, Goleta reported 56, Orcutt recorded 45 and the Santa Ynez Valley had 43.
There were 35 in the unincorporated area of the Goleta and Gaviota valleys, along with 10 in Isla Vista and 18 in the unincorporated area of Northern County.
Geographical locations were pending in 60 cases.
There were 2,129 COVID-19 cases still infectious across the county as of Sunday.
Santa Barbara County has reported 1,379 new cases of COVID-19 in the past three days, according to the county community data board.
The county’s COVID-19 data board indicates that the “adjusted” availability of ICUs in Santa Barbara County and the region of several Southern California counties remained at 0%.
Santa Barbara County is grouped in the greater Southern California region, where ICU availability must increase to 15% or more for the county to exit the regional home stay order.
The county COVID-19 Department of Public Health website, publichealthsbc.org, provides information on what to do if you have tested positive for COVID-19 or are suspected of having COVID-19, as well as home insulation instructions and quarantine. Click here for more information.
Click here for the Noozhawk Coronavirus Crisis section.
– Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be contacted . (You need JavaScript enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews i @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.