••• “Santa Barbara County Public Health Department is reporting that an additional resident has died of Covid-19. The person who died was in their 60s and had underlying health conditions. This South County resident was hospitalized and succumbed to their illness. As of [Sunday], there are 174 confirmed cases of COVID-19.” —from a Public Health Department press release on Edhat
••• “Santa Barbara County Health Officer Henning Ansorg, M.D. has issued a Health Officer Order” primarily aimed at restaurants, insisting they do what they seem to already be doing. (Edhat ran the press release.) The oddness comes in Part 2, about non-food businesses (boldface mine):
The following businesses are ordered to close without exception:
a. Bars and nightclubs that do not serve food;
b. Movie theaters, live performance venues, bowling alleys, and arcades;
c. Gyms, and fitness centers, and aquatic centers;
d. Wineries, breweries, and tap rooms that provide tastings;
e. Trophy shops or trophy businesses;
f. Tattoo parlors, tattoo businesses, tattoo artists, and body art facilities;
g. Barbers, hair salons, and hairstylists;
h. Campgrounds and RV parks, public and private. Only those who certify that the RV is their primary residence may be permitted to stay in the RV park;
i. Nail salons, manicurists, and pedicurists to close except for medical necessity e.g. medical treatment for diabetes;
j. Day spas and massage parlors, except as required for prescribed medical treatment.
••• “Amid multiple episodes of crowded parks and beaches, the order [to close San Diego beaches] also came after warnings about activities in and around the ocean raised by a scientist at the nearby Scripps Institution of Oceanography. As Newsmakers previously reported, prominent atmospheric scientist Kim Prather believes that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, can enter ocean waters and, worse, coastal winds.” Santa Barbara officials said that the only reason they’d consider closing our beaches is to stop crowding. —Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts
••• “Santa Barbara, the 23rd most populous county in California, currently ranks 15th in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the state—and 10th in cases per 100,000 people, according to a new, regularly updating, county-by-county mapping tool of the U.S., from the NYT. […] However, it simply is impossible to know the true scope of the spread of the disease because of the widespread shortage of testing kits, and the uneven distribution of tests, within and across counties, even if at first glance the numbers may suggest the virus is more prevalent in Santa Barbara.” —Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts
••• The Independent looks at the history of the 1930s Lutah Maria Riggs house at 818 Hot Springs Road, which was auctioned off in February (hammer price not yet released). 1937 floor plan courtesy the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.
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