Hospitals in Santa Bárbara County are preparing to implement “crisis care” as COVID-19 hospitalizations break daily records.
Crisis care means that people with urgent health needs outside COVID-19 may not receive the proper care they would normally expect, according to the county public health officer, Dr. Henning Ansorg.
“For example, if someone suffers a brain hemorrhage and can be saved by a specialist performing a procedure, this may no longer be possible or available just because the hospitals are filled with COVID patients,” said Ansorg at the COVID-19 news conference Tuesday .
With a record of 172 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Tuesday, 75% of hospital beds across the county were in use.
Of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 55 require intensive care and 66.3% of the ICU beds with county staff are occupied by patients with COVID-19.
The county’s Department of Public Health reported 0% “adjusted” ICU availability for the first time on Tuesday, a level that the Southern California region maintained for almost three weeks. The actual availability of ICUs in the municipality is 8.4%.
County hospitals are running out of ICU beds with staff and had to start using protective beds a few days ago, said Director of Public Health Van Do-Reynoso. There were 12 electric beds in use as of Tuesday, according to the county’s Community Data Dashboard.
“In light of our current situation, I am lost. Honestly, I don’t know what else to say, ”said Ansorg, clearly exasperated that many people are not following public health orders to avoid meetings and travel to reduce the spread of the highly contagious disease.
Do-Reynoso also updated the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the county, reporting that 54% of the 16,775 vaccines allocated in the county have already been administered to people eligible for the first phase.
In addition, Santa Barbara County Public Health has received approval from the California Department of Public Health to proceed with vaccinating all three layers of Phase 1A simultaneously, accelerating the process. This includes the majority of healthcare professionals, employees and residents in qualified nursing facilities, emergency medical services personnel and dialysis center personnel.
Public Health has approved 42 providers to distribute doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and providers are increasing and working with logistics, said Do-Reynoso.
The county expects to triple the number of suppliers that distribute the vaccine in the coming weeks and, in general, vaccinate about 1,000 people a day in early February.
The vaccine should be available to the general public in late March or April, according to Do-Reynoso.
Public health officials on Tuesday also reported 341 new cases of COVID-19 and seven additional deaths. All of those who died were over 70 years old, and four fatalities were associated with outbreaks in residential facilities, according to Public Health.
Two individuals lived in Santa Bárbara, two lived in Santa Maria, one was from Goleta, one lived in the non-incorporated area of Goleta and one was from the Santa Ynez Valley.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths in the county since the pandemic began is 173.
The number of cases still considered to be infectious across the municipality exceeded 2,000, and was 2,105 as of Tuesday. There have been 19,019 confirmed cases in Santa Barbara County since the pandemic began.
Test positivity rates and daily case rates have also reached record levels. The municipality is showing a positivity rate of 17.3% in seven days.
| Santa Barbara County | December 15th | December 22 | December 29 | January 5 |
| New positive cases reported in the previous week | 1,268 | 1,445 | 1,541 | 2,320 |
| New cases among healthcare professionals in the previous week | 54 | 84 | 72 | 50 |
| Total test results reported in the previous week | 17,532 | 18,243 | 15,753 | 12,681 |
| Hospital patients with positive COVID-19 | 78 | 103 | 127 | 172 |
| Active cases (still infectious after positive test) | 1,059 | 1,245 | 1,227 | 2,105 |
| Cumulative deaths related to COVID-19 | 140 | 150 | 156 | 173 |
“All of these metrics are at the highest level ever since it started last March,” said Do-Reynoso.
The county is only beginning to see all the effects of the COVID-19 broadcast during the Thanksgiving holiday, Ansorg said, and the impacts of Christmas travel and collections will become obvious in the coming weeks.
In addition, there have been 28 outbreaks of business and 48 outbreaks of collective care establishment reported across the county in December, said Do-Reynoso.
Business outbreaks have occurred in several sectors, including agriculture, administration, retail, manufacturing, health care, cleaning services, skilled labor, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, hotels and construction.
“I cannot emphasize enough that this is really a call to action for all members of our community,” said Do-Reynoso. “Together we can improve and we need.”
County instructions are now conducted virtually, with public health and county officials attending by video conference.
Tuesday’s briefing is available for viewing on the Santa Barbara County YouTube page here, with English and Spanish versions.
– Jade Martinez-Pogue, editor of the Noozhawk team, can be contacted at . (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.