It’s a number Ventura County Public Health officials thought we’d never see. In the first months of the crisis, they were worried we might have two or three hundred deaths.
But, the three deaths reported Friday pushed the county’s COVID-19 related total to an even 1000. Oxnard has had the most deaths in the county, with 358, followed by Ventura with 128 and Simi Valley at 65.
For the Tri-Counties, the overall death toll is now at 1700 deaths. Santa Barbara County has had 444, and San Luis Obispo County 256.
The death rate has been slowing in recent weeks, as more people have been getting vaccinated, and the new case rate has slowed.
117 new cases of the virus were reported Friday, with 44 in Ventura County, 34 in Santa Barbara County, and 39 in San Luis Obispo County. Ventura County is the the state's Orange reopening tier, while Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties haven't met the metrics yet to move from Red to Orange.
