Cottage Hospital has 6 ICU beds available after increase in COVID-19 cases
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Almost 10 months into the COVID-19 pandemic and Santa Barbara County is seeing its worst COVID-19 numbers.
On Monday public health officials announced 1,949 active cases in the county. And hospitalizations are up to 157 people, pushing the county’s ICU availability to 0.7 percent.
Cottage Hospital is seeing the increase themselves. Last week their medical staff stated they had 63 patients confirmed with COVID-19 and six more suspected to have it. On Monday those numbers grew to 71 confirmed COVID-19 patients and eight more suspected to have it.
During the same week period Santa Barbara County Public Health officials stated 30 more people in the county are hospitalized due to COVID-19.
Due to the surge, Cottage Hospital states they have six intensive care unit beds available. And those include bed available for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related hospitalizations.
A spokeswoman with Cottage Hospital expects numbers to continue to trend upwards through the end of January. She stated people travelled too much during the holidays. And the hospital will continue to see the effects of those gatherings for weeks.