It may still be premature to say the sky has collapsed where COVID-19 is concerned, but the Santa Barbara County supervisors spent much of this Tuesday crafting as large and as bulletproof an umbrella as they could, in anticipation of more bad news in the months ahead.
With California and Florida neck and neck for the dubious distinction of posting the most new confirmed COVID cases, California Governor Gavin Newsom just hit the brakes on the state’s economic reawakening, ordering that all tattoo parlors, massage parlors, nail salons, barber shops, and hair salons be shut down, as well as all indoor dining and drinking establishments. In Santa Barbara County, Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg followed suit this Tuesday.
In response to predictions by the World Health Organization that the rate of COVID-19 infection will continue to spiral further out of control, the county supervisors approved spending up to $1.2 million this Tuesday to lease the empty Sears department store — 72,000 square feet — located at La Cumbre Plaza to create space for 200 additional medical beds for non-COVID cases, freeing up space at Cottage Hospital for a possible influx of COVID patients.