Want to see a show in Santa Barbara? These theaters require proof of COVID vaccines

Visitors planning to attend any event at some of Santa Barbara’s most prominent theaters will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result before entry, the Lobero Theatre announced on Tuesday.

Any attendees of events at the Lobero Theatre, Center Stage Theater, the Granada Theatre or Ensemble Theatre’s The New Vic must verify their full vaccination status or supply a negative COVID-19 test result taken 72 hours before each event, along with an official photo ID, before entering the venues, according to the theaters’ leadership and board members.

Masks are required regardless of vaccination status, and protocols may differ for each venue. All staff and ushers at all of the venues have been fully vaccinated, according to leadership and board members.

There are similar requirements in place for indoor mega events, or events with 5,000 attendees or more, but the Santa Barbara theaters are too small to qualify for the mega event status.

The new requirement is effective immediately and comes at a time when Santa Barbara County is experiencing a vast uptick in new cases of the novel coronavirus.

Santa Barbara County Public Health officials reported an additional 112 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, making for an active case count of 823.

There has been an average of slightly more than 132 daily new cases reported countywide during the past seven days, according to data tracking done by Noozhawk.

COVID-19 hospitalizations jumped to 65 on Tuesday, with 15 of those patients being treated in intensive-care units. COVID-19 ICU admissions increased by more than 150% for the week ending Tuesday when compared with the week prior, and hospitalizations increased nearly 53%, according to Noozhawk’s data tracking.

Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso shared concerns about the increasing hospitalizations at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, saying that both hospital bed capacity and ICU bed capacity were at the cusp of the “red zone.”

More than 84% of the county’s available staffed ICU beds were occupied as of Tuesday, and COVID-19 patients took up nearly 20% of those beds, according to the county’s Community Data Dashboard.

There were no additional COVID-19-related deaths reported on Tuesday, and the county’s cumulative death toll remained at 470.

Of the new cases reported on Tuesday, 64 were from the Santa Maria Valley and 13 were from the Goleta Valley. Santa Barbara reported 10 new cases, the Lompoc Valley added nine, the Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area tallied five, the Santa Ynez Valley reported four and Isla Vista logged one. There were six cases pending geographic location.