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Governor Newsom (on June 18) announced that face coverings are required to be worn State-wide in the circumstances outlined in the State guidance. It does not substitute for existing guidance about social distancing and handwashing.
Additionally, our Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer has put a pause on further reopening of personal care services such as nail salons, tattoo parlors, businesses offering facials, electrolysis, and waxing, etc.
Despite these significant acts of warranted precaution, we are seeing that the majority of active cases in Santa Barbara County are regional in nature. During the Public Health Department presentation to the Board of Supervisors this week, we learned more about why so many of our cases have been in North County, versus a much smaller amount of cases in South County (34 cases total).
According to the graph below, COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths are higher among Latinos than among Whites. These findings are likely attributed to more individuals in each household, working in higher-risk environments/essential businesses, less adherence to face covering, and higher prevalence of underlying health conditions. Research has shown that almost 30% of Hispanic/Latino adults with diabetes are at risk of developing COVID-19. The Sansum Diabetes Research Institute has launched a free web resource in English and Spanish and a help line for those with diabetes concerned about their level of risk.
Strategies our Public Health Department is implementing include ensuring access to testing for highly impacted communities, contact tracing and tracking, and strengthening communications strategies to increase language access and community engagement.
I received a presentation from a UCSB Bren School researcher which indicated that ultraviolet (UV) radiation has a statistically significant effect on daily COVID-19 growth rates. In other words, it turns out sunshine is a helpful agent in reducing the prevalence of COVID-19. As always, I encourage safe use of the outdoors, not only for the mental health benefits to be gained, but also because risks of transmission outdoors are low from what we know to date.
Take care,
Das
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