Negotiations continue between the County of Santa Barbara and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA), the employee union representing dozens of patrol deputies who have so far failed to comply with the county’s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test policy. The Board of Supervisors adopted the mandate September 1, and it went into effect October 18.
As of Monday, 161 deputies had opted to receive weekly tests in lieu of getting their shots, but only 37 have registered to be tested, and none have actually been swabbed.
Sgt. Neil Gowing, president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA), the employee union leading the negotiations, said the group still feels uncertain about the true “impacts and effects” of COVID-19 testing, including “how the tests are going to be implemented, which testing platform is going to be used, who is going to administer the tests, [and] what are the steps if there is a positive test.”