Public Health Reports Increase in Weekly Average of New COVID-19 Cases, Continued High Transmission – Noozhawk

The weekly average of new COVID-19 cases is increasing as the county continues to have high transmission of COVID-19, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department said Friday.

Compared to last week, the weekly average of positive cases increased 5.6%, Public Health said.

Santa Barbara County has a high community transmission rate of the novel coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and so do most other California counties.

The county has reported 1,226 cases for the week ending Thursday, which is fewer than the previous week, when 1,334 new cases were reported.However, this number is lower than the actual case count locally since the results of rapid antigen tests (like at-home tests) are not reported by the Public Health Department.

As of this week, there have been98,826 confirmed cases in the county.

There were 43 COVID-19-positive hospital patients in the county as of Thursday, including two people being treated in intensive care units. This includes people who were admitted for treatment due to COVID-19 and people who tested positive but were admitted for unrelated reasons.

The county reported four more COVID-19-related deaths so far, which brings the total to 706 people.

The BA.5 subvariant of the novel coronaviruscontinues to be the dominant strain in the county as well as most of the West Coast, according to state data.

Santa Barbara County's test positivity rate is at 16.6% and has steadily been increasing throughoutJuly. This percentage is higher than both neighboring counties. San Luis Obispo has a 13.3% test positivity rate and Venturas test positivity rate is 15.5%.

The county's test positivity rate for the same date last year was 7.1%.

UC Santa Barbara is hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for children next week.It will serve children from six months old to 11 years old.

The first dose of a two-dose Moderna vaccine series will be offered on Wednesday, July 27 and the second dose will be offered on Aug. 24.To sign up for an appointment, visit myturn.ca.gov. Walk-ins are also welcome.

Find a COVID-19 vaccine provider here, including locations for pediatric vaccines and booster shots.

Find a testing site here, including locations to get free at-home rapid tests.

Noozhawk staff writer Grace Kitayama can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

View post:

Public Health Reports Increase in Weekly Average of New COVID-19 Cases, Continued High Transmission - Noozhawk