Santa Barbara First District Supervisor Das Williams — COVID-19 Regional Stay Home Order

The order will remain in effect for at least 3 weeks and, after that period, will be lifted when a region’s projected ICU capacity meets or exceeds 15%. This will be assessed on a weekly basis after the initial 3 week period. Learn more about this order.

The state released a map of five regions and their current ICU capacity, as well as projected dates when regions will fall below the 15 percent threshold. Santa Barbara County is included in the Southern California region below:

• Southern California: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura

You should know that locally our numbers are inching up, though we continue to be doing better than other areas. Our adjusted case rate is 10 per 100,000 residents, we have a 4.4% test positivity rate, and 61% of staffed ICU beds are in use. Fortunately, local hospitals are taking measures to increase ICU capacity, so the County has not needed to issue mandates on them as has happened elsewhere.

I know people are struggling with uncertainty regarding when exactly we will come under a stay at home order and then when your business will be able to reopen, your job will return, or when your child will be able to go back to school. We are doing everything possible on our end to ensure when we reopen we will be in the red tier and we need your help to ensure that happens by staying at home as much as possible, avoiding gatherings, and wearing masks when you do go out.

The Regional Stay Home Order would be in effect for 3 weeks after the trigger and instructs Californians to stay at home as much as possible to limit the mixing with other households that can lead to COVID-19 spread. It allows access to (and travel for) critical services and allows outdoor activities to preserve Californians’ physical and mental health. This limited closure will help stop the surge and prevent overwhelming regional ICU capacity so that our County can emerge in a better position by January. In any region that triggers a Regional Stay Home Order because it drops below 15% ICU capacity, the following sectors must close:

• Indoor and outdoor playgrounds
• Indoor recreational facilities
• Hair salons and barbershops
• Personal care services
• Museums, zoos, and aquariums
• Movie theaters
• Wineries
• Bars, breweries, and distilleries
• Family entertainment centers
• Cardrooms and satellite wagering
• Limited services
• Live audience sports
• Amusement parks

The following sectors will have additional modifications in addition to 100% masking and physical distancing:

• Outdoor recreational facilities: Allow outdoor operation only without any food, drink or alcohol sales. Additionally, overnight stays at campgrounds will not be permitted.
• Retail: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Shopping centers: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Hotels and lodging: Allow to open for critical infrastructure support only.
• Restaurants: Allow only for take-out, pick-up, or delivery.
• Offices: Allow remote only except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible.
• Places of worship and political expression: Allow outdoor services only.
• Entertainment production including professional sports: Allow operation without live audiences. Additionally, testing protocol and “bubbles” are highly encouraged.

The following sectors are allowed to remain open when a remote option is not possible with appropriate infectious disease preventative measures including 100% masking and physical distancing:

• Critical infrastructure
• Schools that are already open for in-person learning
• Non-urgent medical and dental care
• Child care and pre-K

What can you do to help? The value of mask wearing has become more clear over time. In fact, when I talk to health professionals about which of these measures will help, they often respond that mask wearing is the most important measure people can take.

Register for a specific time in advance. COVID-19 safety precautions will be in place.

For adults 18 and over:

Vaccines will be administered at the parking lot across the street from Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital.

Sat, December 5, 2020

8:00 AM – 4:00 PM PST

Location

Drive-Thru Flu Vaccine Clinic

Hollipat Center Drive

Goleta, CA 93111

Register an Adult.

For children 6 months to 17 years old:

Vaccines will be administered outside Grotenhuis Pediatric Clinics.

Sat, December 5, 2020

8:00 AM – 4:00 PM PST

Location

Grotenhuis Pediatric Clinics

5333 Hollister Avenue

Santa Barbara, CA 93111

Register a Child.

December: Health care workers and nursing home residents will likely be the first people to receive the vaccine. Up to 40 million doses could be available to Americans before the end of this year, from a combination of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines. That would be enough to vaccinate the three million people who live in long-term-care facilities, as well as most of the country’s 21 million health care workers.

January: Keep in mind that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require a second dose a few weeks later to be effective. So an initial batch of 40 million doses would be enough to vaccinate only 20 million people. By early next year, Pfizer and Moderna are likely to be able to ship about 70 million doses per month.

February and March: The next priority groups are likely to be people over the age of 65 (and especially those over 75); people with medical conditions that put them at risk of death if infected; and essential workers, like those in education, food, transportation and law enforcement.

April, May and June: The most likely scenario is that even people who don’t qualify as a priority — like healthy, nonessential workers younger than 65 — will be eligible to receive the vaccine by the spring. The vast majority of Americans could be vaccinated by early summer.

Treatments continue to improve, reducing the death rate for people who get the virus. And widespread vaccination will sharply reduce the spread, helping protect even people for whom a vaccine is ineffective. Experts are predicting that social gatherings will again be common and largely safe by the summer.