Though just a small, single-square-mile community, Isla Vista holds the key to pushing the entire County of Santa Barbara forward or backward in terms of pandemic reopening progress. With Halloween coming up, the stakes get even higher with potential parties and gatherings.
Two new COVID-19 clusters, totaling 13 new cases, popped up in the tiny college town last week. This marks three total outbreaks in the community so far. Just last week, the Public Health Department reported that the single largest age group contracting the virus are those ages 20-29 — the main demographic of Isla Vistans.
“It does seem likely that this outbreak is significant enough that it’s going to affect our numbers for a period of time, but if we are able to contain those and limit this to this event, we’re going to be able to get right back on track to the trend we have in the right direction,” 2nd District Supervisor Gregg Hart said about the outbreaks.