Over 70 new COVID-19 cases have been reported this weekend in Isla Vista, a surge corresponding to a sharp increase in cases across Santa Barbara County, which now has the highest COVID-19 spread of any county in California.
A group of residents gathered on Del Playa Drive in October. Max Abrams / Daily Nexus
Fifty-one new COVID-19 cases were reported in I.V. on Saturday through UC Santa Barbara Student Health alone, according to an email sent to students Saturday afternoon from Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Margaret Klawunn and Student Health Executive Director and University Physician Vejas Skripkus. This, combined with an additional 22 cases reported on Friday, brings this weekend’s total to 73.
Klawunn and Skripkus stated that the vast majority of those cases are from undergraduate students, and that students are experiencing more serious symptoms than they were a few weeks ago. They also emphasized that this new surge in positive cases does not relate to the recent increase in students living in campus apartments.
The email also reminded students of the Regional Stay-At-Home Order for Southern California, which mandates mask wearing and physical distancing, and that no indoor or outdoor gatherings with people outside a household are permitted.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in October that allows peace officers and public officials to enforce public health orders in unincorporated parts of the county, such as I.V. Residents can face fines from $100 to $500 for violating any public health orders, a move meant to deter large-scale gatherings.
Over the long weekend, however, Nexus reporters observed multiple outdoor gatherings and large groups of residents walking together without masks.
In addition to testing available for UCSB students through Student Health, I.V. Theater is now a permanent COVID-19 testing location from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays for walk-ins.
In Phase 1A of Governor Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, vaccinations are being prioritized for healthcare workers and individuals over the age of 75. After those groups are vaccinated, the county will move into Phase 1B, which includes people aged 65 to 74 as well as those at risk of exposure in workplaces such as childcare, emergency services and agricultural workers.
UCSB and the County gave up on preventing the spread of COVID in IV long ago. Signs and no enforcement equal a culture of disbelief in the midst of a pandemic. This is disappointing considering UCSB is supposed to be a leading academic institution. As for our county supervisors?–they sent Governor Newsom a letter requesting we be exempted from the public health measures applied to the rest of SoCal. That herd of idiot science deniers looks rather stupid st this point. They did not listen to their own public health officials. Meanwhile COVID is slaughtering a disproportionate number of Santa… Read more »
Yang for prison.
Imaine every one of these douche bags get the virus and it causes a lifetime of pain for everyone they love. They deserve it for being selfish little aholes.
riding my bike through IV over the weekend was shocking. SO MANY people walking around with no masks and close together. Can we have enforcement of the mask rules/laws?
Think about this for a moment: Santa Barbara county officials have never cared for or about Isla Vista and everything they do is for the almighty dollar in their pockets. Do you think they care about enforcement of mask/social distancing rules/laws? Do you think they care about the welfare of Isla Vista residents? If you do, well, you just may be part of the problem. They used CoVid guidelines to clear out the nice areas of the county and create the mess we now see in the park and by the way, NOBODY there wears masks. They’re available to them,… Read more »
Indeed IV has had a surge over the weekend; there was also a small surge reported Jan. 12. Likely the transfer of data from UCSB to the County isn’t smooth, and comes in packets. The only place to see percapita stats for the subregions of the County is the LA Times by-county coronovirus page… I won’t post the link there as that delays posting of this message. IV has been the lowest in per-capita cases since mid-November. Santa Maria, Lompoc, and Santa Barbara have had a giant outbreak relative to IV. So IV had done extremely well since mid-November. Somehow… Read more »
Santa Barbara County has the worst record in California. Isla Vista is part of Santa Barbara County. Residents of Isla Vista work all over Santa Barbara County. Segregating IV from the County is naive. Numbers coming out of IV are most likely inaccurate. The “spike” may correspond with the belated opening of a two-day a week testing center. Anyone actually living here knows masks and social distancing are happening–indoors or out. Isla Vista suffers from a lack of governance and the responsible parties are being held accountable–by the virus.
Santa Barbara County ranks 14th out of 58 California Counties in per-capita Covid infections per capita. IV segregates itself. The fraction of IV residents that work “all over Santa Barbara County” is tiny, and I bet zero IV residents work regularly in Cuyama, Guadalupe, Sisquoc, and Orcutt, and darned few work in Santa Maria. Look at the LA Times… IV has a profile of cases per capita that is entirely different than the rest of Santa Barbara County. All Covid numbers in the County are likely inaccurate by about the same amount… UCSB does run a robust testing program, I’ve… Read more »
Whoops over the past 2 weeks IV had 136 Covid cases; its per capita covid cases are 588 per 100,000.
Forty three percent of the total annual MTD bus rides are taken by residents of Isla Vista. Compartmentalizing IV is stupid on many levels. The majority of students residents come from SoCal. But wait, that doesn’t matter because you believe they never drive home. UCSB’s testing program does not include the non-student population of IV and hence is far from “robust”. Of course deaths in IV are low–the population here is young–until this gets loose in Friendship Manor. But even then our population is not comparable to the rest of the county. We do have a Latino residents that, according… Read more »
The superspreading is going on in Santa Maria, where no MTD bus goes. As for UCSB’s community service… we the people actually elect government to do the things you enumerate. Take your case to the Regents, and you’ll find they (and UCSB) are quite busy doing the items that the elected government delegated *to them*. I’m sure you’d like UCSB to repair your roof and pay your taxes too… you have no sense of organization, responsibility, or numbers. Also, read the California State order on masks… they are not required outside when 6′ or greater from another person.
UCSB pays no taxes which is one of the reasons for community service. Their empty dorms normally collect avalanches of cash and not a dime goes to maintain the roads or countless other services normal businesses help pay for in a community. Replace “UCSB” with “GE” and the situation would be very different. Yes, I expect UCSB to help this community. The University of California belongs to the people of California who pay for it not just in taxes but in taxes that are NOT collected. This stings especially considering the University of California is supposed to be free to… Read more »