Despite reaching the red level, Santa Barbara County is dealing with difficulties

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, California – It has been some time since Santa Barbara County reached the state’s red level of reopening.

This week, we saw restaurants, museums and gyms reopen indoors for the first time since autumn.

The step in the right direction also gave secondary schools the green light to return to the classroom.

“We are enjoying the opening of several businesses and locations in our municipality,” said public health director Van Do-Reynoso.

The distribution of vaccines also increased the pace with an effort by the entire team.

“Week after week, we continue to see a very high percentage of vaccines being administered,” said Do-Reynoso.

“The public health department, together with our health partners, is doing everything we can to get the vaccine to everyone who wants it as quickly as possible,” added public health officer Henning Ansorg.

Youth sports are in full swing across the county.

However, this brought some new challenges, as all athletes and coaches – playing football and water polo – are required to take the COVID-19 tests every week.

Tonight, the Big Game between Santa Barbara and San Marcos was canceled due to a positive result in the COVID-19 test.

“In the past week, we have seen many positive cases of athletes from various schools,” said Ansorg. “This is worrying for us.”

When it comes to the number of fans in the stands, the Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health will not apply the state rule of one person per athlete.

Only allowing immediate family members to observe youth sporting events.

“We reviewed the state’s orientation,” said Do-Reynoso. “Unfortunately, it also didn’t make sense to us.”

As coronavirus cases continue to decline, local health experts are focused on reaching the least restrictive orange layer.

“If we stop masking and withdrawing too early, we can easily risk another increase in cases,” concluded Ansorg.

Today spring break has started for many public schools that have just reopened.

So next week will be a real test, to see how fair these students are when they return to the classroom.