Santa Barbara First District Supervisor Das Williams — Testing & Vaccine Update, Youth Sports, & Electric Vehicle Webinar

Right now, it is as important as ever to get tested for the COVID-19 virus because frequent testing is the best way (short of getting vaccinated once available) to make sure positive cases are identified quickly and get isolated in order to stop further spread.

Who should get tested? If you are planning to travel, gather (even in small groups), or be around those outside your immediate household, you should be tested for the virus, even if you feel perfectly well. If you, have been exposed to anyone with COVID-19, or anyone displaying virus symptoms, you should be tested as well. Athletic teams that are playing and practicing together are currently having their teams and coaches tested daily, and schools are encouraged to test their staff weekly or every two weeks when open for in-person instruction in the purple Tier.

Some may think that now that there is a vaccine, testing is no longer important but in reality, the Pandemic is not over yet, and it is still very important to test, isolate, socially distance and wear a mask. In actuality these measures are even more powerful than vaccination alone. Combined, they will get us beyond the Pandemic faster and with less people getting seriously ill or dying from the disease.

For a list of free COVID-19 testing sites in Santa Barbara County visit: https://publichealthsbc.org/testing/.

Additionally, the mobile COVID-19 testing unit in Carpinteria is located at Procore in Carpinteria (6267 Carpinteria Ave). This test site will be available from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday – Friday for a minimum of two (2) weeks and available to all community members. Let’s use it before we lose it! To request an appointment, please go online to https://lhi.care/covidtesting. If you need assistance registering, call 2-1-1.

For those 65 and older, Cottage has appointments available tomorrow and you can click here to schedule.

Vaccine appointments will continue to be made available for Emergency Services Workers, Grocery Workers, and Phase 1A Health Care workers on the County’s COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment website. New appointments will be live Mondays at 9:00 am.

In addition to those appointments, at least 1,000 vaccines were dedicated to childcare and education workers this week. The first priority group is teachers and staff working with medically-fragile students. Our Public Health team are working closely with our county’s school districts on allocation of these vaccines.

Vaccination Rate Data:

• 99,220 Doses Received
• 60,944 First Doses Administered
• 34,352 Second Doses Administered

*Does not include a large number of doses received by nursing homes, federal health clinics and other institutions that receive direct federal allocations.

Among the many state guidelines in place to assure safety of athletes, families and coaches, there are requirements that must be followed when sports allowed under the Orange and Red Tiers are played in other cities or counties that are in a more restrictive tier.

In addition, for sports permitted to play at this time, parents must be provided information regarding the risk of their minor participating, and parents must sign an informed consent indicating their understanding of these risks.

For more information on the state guidance and where sports fall in terms of risk, please visit Outdoor and Indoor Youth and Adult Recreational Sports and publichealthsbc.org.