Santa Barbara New Year’s Eve celebration curbed with stay-at-home order

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — 2020 will get the send-off most holidays got during the COVID-19 pandemic, socially distant.

California is ending 2020 in the midst of its third spike of COVID-19 cases. Santa Barbara is doing better than the rest of the Southern California region the city was grouped into. State health officials stated the region has 0% ICU capacity. While Cottage Hospital officials stated the Santa Barbara hospital chain has 24% ICU availability.

Under the current stay-at-home order, non-essential businesses must close at 10 p.m. That means even if bars and restaurants were allowed to be open, they’d be closed well before midnight. That has people looking for other options to ring in the New Year. And health officials hope those options are at home with only immediate households.