Santa Barbara County on Sunday continued to experience an alarming rise in daily COVID-19 cases, with a record-shattering 779 new virus-related infections reported.
Sunday marked by far the highest single-day number of new COVID-19 cases since the county’s first positive case in March.
The previous high was 512 cases three days prior, on Jan. 7.
No new COVID-19 deaths were reported in the county on Sunday.
The county’s overall positive case total rose to 21,323, and the cumulative death toll remained at 197.
Updated COVID-19 hospitalization data in the county, including the number of patients requiring treatment in intensive-care units, was not available on Sunday, according to the Santa Barbara County Community Data Dashboard.
Information “will be reported as soon as it becomes available,” the county Public Health Department said.
Of Sunday’s new cases, Santa Maria had 205, Santa Barbara tallied 183, the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area logged 64, Lompoc had 60, Goleta reported 56, Orcutt recorded 45 and the Santa Ynez Valley had 43.
There were 35 in the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley and Gaviota, along with 10 in Isla Vista, and 18 in the North County unincorporated area.
Geographic locations were pending on 60 cases.
There were 2,129 still-infectious COVID-19 cases throughout the county as of Sunday.
Santa Barbara County has reported 1,379 new COVID-19 cases in the last three days, according to the county’s community data dashboard.
The county’s COVID-19 data dashboard indicates the “adjusted” availability of ICUs in Santa Barbara County and the multi-county Southern California region remained at 0%.
Santa Barbara County is grouped in the large Southern California region, where the ICU availability must increase to 15% or above for the county to exit the regional stay-at-home order.
The county Public Health Department COVID-19 website, publichealthsbc.org, offers information about what to do if you have tested positive for COVID-19 or are suspected to have COVID-19, plus home isolation and quarantine instructions. Click here for more information.
Click here for Noozhawk’s Coronavirus Crisis section.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.