Santa Barbara County health officials are urging the community to stay local and remain vigilant during Spring Break to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
The Public Health Department is reminding everyone to adhere to safety guidelines when considering how to spend Spring Break by staying local, continuing to wear a mask and practice social distancing.
Gathering in large groups is not permitted at this time. If people must gather, gatherings must be kept small and include 3 households or less and be short in duration while also following the safety guidelines above.
Dr. Henning Ansorg, Health Officer for the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department says, "Just as quickly as we began to see a decline in cases, we can easily revert and see an uptick. We must remain vigilant if we want to continue moving forward. This can only happen if we all do our part," said Ansorg.
If you choose to travel out of state for Spring Break, a 10-day quarantine should occur upon return. Testing is strongly recommended upon return as well. Locations for no-cost testing throughout Santa Barbara County can be found here.
"We have worked hard to get our kids back to in-person learning," said Ansorg, "it is in our control to keep this in place. With new, more dangerous, variants now detected in our community, an uptick in cases can happen quickly if we do not continue to practice the needed safety precautions," said Ansorg.
For more information about the COVID-19 guidance and the local response, visit this website.
