Santa Barbara County Public Health searches for answers for high number of COVID-19 cases in Santa Maria

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Santa Maria has 46 percent of coronavirus cases in Santa Barbara County, despite only having a quarter of the population. Public health officials do not know why.

Public health officials are trying to figure out why Santa Maria has a significantly higher number of coronavirus cases than any other city in the area.

"The outbreak is spread very well across the city of Santa Maria," said Henning Ansorg, MD, health officer for Santa Barbara County Public Health. "There are no certain neighborhoods that are affected more than others."

So far, they have no definitive answer.

"Early on in the pandemic, we felt like we saw a few different trends, namely, the spread of the virus within multi-generational housing," said Scott Robertson, MD, division chief medical officer for Dignity Health. "However, in the last few weeks, we really haven't seen any discernible pattern."

Santa Barbara County Public Health is also speaking with San Luis Obispo County Public Health to solve the problem.

At over 300 confirmed cases, there are more coronavirus cases in Santa Maria than there are in all of neighboring San Luis Obispo County.

Although, dignity health said they were prepared for those patients and are prepared for more if there is a surge.

"At the beginning of the pandemic, we put several measures in place to make sure we had capacity for whatever type of surge of coronavirus patients that we may experience," said Dr. Robertson.

Public health is working to slow the number of cases.

"Our director is in close communication with the city officials of Santa Maria," said Dr. Ansorg. "We are in close communication with the [agriculture] community, with employers there."

The county has also released coronavirus safety information in Spanish and Mixteco, Helping to reach the 27,000 indigenous speakers in Santa Maria.