Santa Barbara County COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations increase while death rate and ICU rate go down

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Santa Barbara County, California and the United States have seen an explosion of COVID-19 confirmed cases.

In the first three and a half weeks of July, Santa Barbara County has seen nearly half its confirm cases during the 20-week pandemic. However, the death rate and ICU rate from the virus has slowed in Santa Barbara County.

So far in July, according to Santa Barbara County Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard, 2,680 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported. While there were 87 more active cases on July 24 than on July 1, a whopping 2,883 people have recovered from the virus.  

Santa Maria has seen the most cases in Santa Barbara County. The Santa Barbara Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard showed that in June 769 cases were reported in Santa Maria, while 1,439 cases have been reported so far in the city in July. A total of 2,496 people in Santa Maria have tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Santa Barbara has also seen a major increase. Of the 667 confirmed cases, 383 were reported in July. Another 192 tested positive in June. Only 92 people tested positive for COVID-19 during the first two and a half months of the pandemic.

The Santa Barbara County Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard shows there are 85 people hospitalized, 26 of which are in the intensive care unit (ICU), due to COVID-19. 32 people in Santa Barbara County have died from the virus.

There are 46 more people hospitalized as of July 24 compared to July 1, with five more people in the ICU. Three people in Santa Barbara County have died so far in July due to COVID-19, compared to 17 in June. And people going into the ICU slowed from a change of 11 more cases during the month of June to a change of 5 more cases.