Santa Barbara County is reporting the deaths of eleven more people who had COVID-19.
Health officials say three of the patients were between the ages of 50 and 69-years-old and eight were over the age of 70. Seven of the deaths were associated with an outbreak at a congregate-care facility.
Santa Barbara County has had 260 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
The county also added 238 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the county's total to 25,986 confirmed cases as of January 22.
In a Friday afternoon press conference, Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said the county's case rate and positivity rate have been on the decline since peaking on January 9.
"This is really encouraging news," she said. "However, I want to share that we are not out of the woods yet. We need everyone to maintain their diligence in all of the precautions, all of the tools that we've set forth because we still have hospitalizations. We do expect a high number of COVID-19 hospitalizations for the next few weeks to come because of our high case rates."
Health officials say 187 people are currently hospitalized; 23,550 people have recovered.
The Public Health Department reports that 64 of the county's 76 staffed ICU beds are currently occupied. Fifty of them are taken by COVID-19 patients. Twelve ICU surge beds are in use.
Breakdown of cases by location:
- Santa Maria - 9,014
- Santa Barbara - 4,646
- Lompoc - 2,678
- Orcutt - 1,386
- Goleta - 1,330
- Lompoc federal prison - 1,078
- Guadalupe and North County unincorporated areas (Sisquoc, Casmalia, Garey, Cuyama, New Cuyama) - 1,004
- Carpinteria and South County unincorporated areas (Montecito, Summerland) - 975
- Unincorporated Goleta Valley and Gaviota - 872
- Isla Vista - 847
- Santa Ynez Valley (Solvang, Buellton, Santa Ynez, Los Alamos, Los Olivos, Ballard) - 758
An additional 1,398 cases are listed as "pending" location.
Three free community coronavirus testing sites are open in Santa Maria, Buellton, and Goleta.
Additional testing is available next to the Santa Maria Health Care Center on Tuesdays through Fridays, and a mobile testing unit is also now in operation at CenCal Health in Santa Barbara.
Appointments are required at all locations. Click here for information on how to make an appointment.
Walk-in only testing is available at the Isla Vista Theater from noon to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and no appointment is required.
For more information on the county's COVID-19 response, visit publichealthsbc.org.