Santa Barbara County looking into plasma donation and new normal

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - When cruise passenger Dwight Everett of Camarillo survived COVID-19, he volunteered to donate plasma for an experimental treatment that doctors hope will help other patients at Dignity Health's St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo.

Santa Barbara County Public Health's lab director said they are looking into the procedure.

Dr. Stewart Comer said, "The blood center that actually they used is the one that also serves most of central coast California."

He said they don't have any more plasma, but will be asking the Red Cross to do something similar for Cottage Hospital patients.

Dr. Henning Ansorg said although the number of COVID-19 cases has increased, the number of hospitalizations has been fairly stable

The public health officer reported 29 new cases in Santa Barbara County bringing the total of 313.

More than a dozen of the new cases are at the prison in Lompoc, which has the only local outbreak.

Dr. Ansorg said 133 people are recovering at home, while 124 have recovered, but 40 people are hospitalized and 15 are in the intensive care.

The age range is 20 to 70-plus.

The county will be following the state's lead into the next phase of mitigating of the pandemic.

If the stay-at-home order continues, county leaders hope to transition into the gradual opening of businesses.

The timing depends on the state and the ability to transition back into a stay-at-home system if the virus were to spike again.

The executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation also spoke at the COVID-19 news conference. Jennifer Smith said legal aid can help people dealing with everything from wrongful evictions to COVID-19 scams.

For more information visit www.lafsbc.org. The organization has offices in Santa Barbara, Lompoc and Santa Maria.