Santa Barbara Steels Itself for COVID-19 Surge
Public Health Officials Plan for County Cases to Spike Between April 26 and July 28
Santa Barbarans are relentlessly asking, when will life go back to normal? While normalcy may not be attainable, the county’s public health department has answered the next best question: When will the local number of COVID-19 cases reach a peak?
Between April 26 and July 28, according to the Director of Public Health Dr. Van Do-Reynoso at the County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. The date range is based on a surge planning model, she explained. If the model is accurate enough, Santa Barbara will be on the other side of “the curve” once case counts hit a peak in that date range.
“We are looking at three different models right now,” Do-Reynoso said. “From Penn Medicine, Meher Lab, and University of Washington. The model is limited by the small size of our county and our limited data, but we’re running the models and choosing what really reflects local needs.”
