Santa Barbara, Calif. – Twenty-eight additional inmates and nine additional Sheriff’s Office personnel have been found to be COVID-19 positive this week. This brings the total number of inmates testing positive at the County Jail during the pandemic to 154 and the total number of Sheriff’s Office employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic to 97.

Five of the inmates tested positive during intake screening, and two have since been released from custody. The remaining twenty-three are part of an outbreak currently being managed in one of the housing units within the main jail. All inmates in the associated housing areas were screened and offered testing. All COVID-19 positive inmates are either housed in negative pressure housing areas or housed separately from the general population. All of the effected housing areas are being quarantined and closely monitored by medical staff. The current number of active COVID-19 positive inmates in the Main Jail is 49 (see related chart below).