By the Numbers: Santa Barbara’s Third and Worst COVID-19 Wave

Doctors Have Expressed Extreme Frustration with Residents Who Continue to Flout Orders

This week, Santa Barbara’s COVID-19 cases shot off the charts — literally. “Our numbers increased by so much that we had to adjust the axes and the scales of the charts and maps,” said Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, the county’s public health director at a press conference.

Active cases in this third and worst wave of the virus are by far the highest they’ve been since the start of the pandemic, exploding to 2,895 on Tuesday, compared to just 241 during the peak of the first wave last spring and 444 in the summer surge.