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COVID-19 surge continues to grow in Tri-Counties

People wait for COVID-19 tests at the Ventura County Fairgrounds Monday.
Duncan Lively
People wait for COVID-19 tests at the Ventura County Fairgrounds Monday.

Ventura County has 5200+ new cases over five days. Santa Barbara County has more than 2300 Friday through Monday.

The number of new COVID-19 cases around the state, and on the Central and South Coasts continues to skyrocket.

In Ventura County, more than 5,200 new cases were reported from last Wednesday through Monday. Santa Barbara County documented more than 2,300 cases from Friday through Monday, including 322 Monday.

Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin says the surge hasn’t reached 2021 levels, but it also isn’t close to peaking. Dr. Levin says one in five people being tested in the county are testing positive for the virus.

Most health experts say they expect the numbers to peak in the next few weeks.

They say fewer people are in hospitals this winter than last because of COVID-19, because of vaccinations. And, of the more than 1,200 deaths related to the virus in the Ventura County, less than 50 of them were among fully vaccinated people.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.