SB County confirmed COVID-19 cases spike to 47 as surge planning continues

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - Santa Barbara County Public Health announced Friday there are now 47 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the County. The 15-case jump from Thursday's total is the County's highest single-day jump in confirmed cases so far.

Public Health officials stressed that they expect the numbers to keep rising and that this jump is not unexpected. They also say social distancing needs to continue to prevent the spread from getting worse.

“We expect to see these numbers go up in the days to come,” said Public Health Director Von do-Reynoso. “And we hope that as they rise, we will continue to see everyone in our community do their part by staying home as much as possible and by limiting outings to only essential tasks. Thank you for helping us with this effort.”

The number of confirmed COVID-19 hospitalized patients also increased to five, up from three on Thursday. Two of the five in the hospital are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Public Health did not yet offer a specific projection for when County hospitals could see a significant surge in patients, but do-Reynoso says the County is actively involved in surge planning, finding locations across the County that could house less severe COVID-19 patients if hospitals become overwhelmed.

do-Reynoso says County Public Health officials are meeting again this weekend and should be ready to present a surge plan on Monday.

Dr. Henning Ansorg of County Public Health offered some promising news: testing capacity and turnaround time for tests appear to be improving.

Ansorg says a very high-profile test, such as one from an ICU nurse who gets sick, can now produce a result in less than 24 hours.

“This helps us greatly in identifying and subsequently isolating high-priority cases and limiting exposure to them,” Ansorg said. “I am anticipating a significant increase in testing that can be performed as of next week, already, and the time after.”