First case of COVID-19 confirmed in Santa Barbara County
The first confirmed case of novel coronavirus in Santa Barbara County was announced Sunday afternoon by the county Public Health Department. The confirmed case was announced shortly after a second case of COVID-19 was confirmed in San Luis Obispo County.
The patient, a North Santa Barbara County resident, does not have any underlying health conditions, the department said in a press release.
“The individual is recovering in isolation at home until cleared by the Public Health Officer,” the release continues. “PHD is taking steps to identify persons who may have had close contact with this person, including friends, family members, or health care professionals.”
The patient has no history of travel within or outside the United States in the last six weeks, and it appears that this is a case of community transmission, the department said.
“The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has been actively preparing to ensure that we have a structure in place to effectively reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our county,” Santa Barbara Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg said.
“At this time we are mandating social distancing measures to slow the spread of the virus. All large nonessential professional, social, and community gatherings should be postponed or canceled, and smaller gatherings should be modified to allow for at least six feet of space between participants.”
In related news, the Public Health Department announced that five UCSB students have been placed in mandatory quarantine after recently coming into contact with someone in San Diego who later tested positive for COVID-19.
“The PHD’s Disease Control & Prevention team is directing a very thorough investigation of all contacts of quarantined residents,” the department said in a press release. “All identified contacts of these individuals have been notified and are self-quarantined in their residences at this time.”
Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
This story was originally published March 15, 2020 at 3:33 PM.