LVMC Community Update, August 7, 2020

Dear Lompoc Valley Community:

The State and County have updated and reported their data, so today I will focus on everything Covid.

COVID-19 Statistics and Information

Visitation Order/Policy. As previously discussed, in April, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer issued an Order restricting hospital visitation. Then, in June, he issued another Order which eased some of the restrictions. Then, in July, he issued another Order reinstating the restrictions. Now, most recently, on July 30, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer issued another Order, again easing some of the restrictions. So, now, hospital inpatients may have one unique visitor per day. Pediatric and Obstetric patients may have two unique visitors per day, and accommodations can be made for overnight stays. Discretion can be used to allow visitation under certain circumstances, including end of life situations. The Order is much more specific, but this is the gist of it. For more detail, please feel free to review our Visitation Policy on the LVMC website, or ask a member of our Management Team.

Positivity Rate. Since the beginning of the pandemic until now, the overall Santa Barbara County Covid Positivity Rate (positive test results divided by total test results) is 8.1%. Over the last month, the weekly positivity rate has bounced around from just over 8%, to almost 11%. This week, the positivity rate was 10.7%. This is based upon County data. The State figure, which represents a ”7-day average with a 7-day lag” is 10.3%. The State and County figures will always have differences, although right now they are pretty close. The State figure is the one used to compare to benchmark and determine, in part, whether Santa Barbara County will be on the County Monitoring List. The benchmark for this metric is 8%. The State has indicated that it has a very large backlog (I won’t mention the number) of processing and reporting test results, and that it will be caught-up soon. When it is caught-up, it is possible that it will have a material impact on the Santa Barbara County positivity rate.

Mortalities/Deaths. I had previously mentioned that the number of Covid related deaths in Santa Barbara County has been underreported due to a delay in data coming from the State. The figures have been updated and are presumed to be current and accurate. The number of deaths stands at 67, including 36 from residents of Santa Maria, 5 from Santa Barbara, and 7 from Lompoc. I previously reported that there had been 4 deaths among Lompoc Valley, and none since June 5. I have no information regarding when and where the additional three deaths occurred. Again, our sincere condolences to the family and friends of those who passed away.

Active Covid Cases. From July 23 to August 5, there has been a 38% decrease in active (still infected) Covid cases. There were 362 active cases on July 23, and 224 on August 5. Stated another way, of the 6,626 individuals in Santa Barbara County who tested Covid positive (including from the FCC), only 224 (3.4%) are considered to be active or still infected.

Hospitalized Patients. From July 23 to August 5, the number of hospitalized Covid positive patients has decreased slightly. On July 23 there were a total of 86 hospitalized patients, with 27 in ICU, compared to 82 hospitalized patients, with 25 in ICU on August 5. LVMC currently has four Covid positive patients, down one from last week.

New Covid Cases. Although Santa Maria still has the highest number of new Covid cases, their trend line of new cases is going sharply downward. Santa Barbara is going up slightly. Lompoc is going down slightly.

Personal Protective Equipment. Adequacy of PPE is one of the metrics that the State uses to determine which Counties will be on the Monitoring List. Although maintaining PPE inventory requires much diligence, all the hospitals in Santa Barbara County have been determined to meet the benchmark for PPE adequacy.

Other State Metrics. In addition to the ones already mentioned, some of the other metrics used to determine which Counties will be on the Monitoring List include the following: 1) Average tests per day, per 100,000 population. The County is at 233.5, which is better than the benchmark of 150, and 2) Covid case rate per 100,000 population, the County is at 229.2, which is worse than the benchmark of 100.

Race/Ethnicity. For Santa Barbara County, excluding the FCC, the race/ethnicity of Covid positive individuals was reported in roughly half of the cases. For the cases where it was reported, the breakdown is as follows: Hispanic-86.4%; White 12.2%; Asian-0.8%; Black/African American-0.5%. For the Federal Correctional Complex, race/ethnicity was reported in almost all cases. The breakdown is as follows: White-39.9%; Hispanic-39.4%; Black/African American-15.3%; Asian 5.4%.

Donations

A huge thank you to the following businesses and individuals who have made donations of Personal Protective Equipment and supplies, food for our healthcare workers, and other acts of kindness. You are all very much appreciated!! Direct Relief; Albertson’s Store #3171--and those individuals who participated with Albertson’s; Northrop Grumman; Southwest Carpenters Union; INTO THE AM CLOTHING LLC-Matt Marchione; Kathy Milham; Kimberly Todd; Vons Market; Celeste Dugré; Subway; Sleep Center; Doreen Ross; Lompoc Pizza Hut; Superior Home Health; Miguelito Elementary School; Cajun Kitchen; La Purisima Mission Mask Makers; Advanced Performance Physical Therapy; SONOS; Pickle & Peanut Restaurants Inc.; Jordano’s; Lompoc Little Caesar’s Pizza; Victoria Perez; Diana Coronado; Firework Foundation; The Daily Grind; Industrial Eats; Vivid Financial Management; Christine Collier; David Carey DDS; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Sue McIntyre; McDonalds; Hilton Garden Inn; Anita Macias; a collaboration of 18 wineries--Alma Rosa, Ampelos, Chanin, Fiddlehead, Flying Goat, Garcia, Kings Carey, Kita, Longoria, Loring, Pali, Piedrasassi, Sandhi, Santa Barbara Winery, Sea Smoke, Sweetzer, Temperance and Transcendence; CoastHills Credit Union; CenCal Health; Dunn School; American Host; Kateri and Chris Kingsley; Katherine Milham; Sweet Bliss Sugar Scrubs and Co.; Carol Kirkland; Dr. Iris Radler; Donna Bommersbach; Patricia Henry; Nancy Manes; Annamie Lafferty; Marilyn Romine; Courtney & Mitch Barnham; Ida Kreds; Ingrid Kaper; Judy Carpenter; Space X; Lompoc Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; Santa Barbara Foundation; Lompoc Hospital District Foundation; Lompoc Unified School District; Lompoc YMCA; Floriano’s Mexican Food; Circle K; Keller Williams Realty of Lompoc; Girl Scouts of Lompoc; Arbonne independent distributors; Orcutt Bakery; Northrop Grumman; L3Harris Technologies; Astrotech Corp.; Harbor Freight; Home Depot; Direct Relief; Heath Dental; CHC Dental; Mikowicz Dental; Kimberly Nails; Not Alone Plumbing; Artisan Uprising Winery/Azeo Distillery; Starbuck’s Store 496; Tom’s Burgers; Super Grill; Sign Gypsies Central Coast.

Our frontline healthcare workers, support staff, physicians, and allied health professionals have been doing an outstanding job, and we are very thankful and proud of them!! Thank you, Lompoc Valley Community, for your tremendous support of LVMC and our healthcare workers; it means a lot to all of us!

As always, please feel free to contact me at popkins@lompocvmc.com or (805) 737-3301. Until next time, be well and stay safe!

Steve Popkin
Chief Executive Officer