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Early results favor Newsom
Unvaccinated make up most hospitalizations
67.1% of state’s voters and 67.56% of SB County’s voters oppose recall, according to early reports
85% of last month’s county’s COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred among people who didn’t get the shots By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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COURTESY PHOTO
At left, early results showed Gov. Gavin Newsom surviving the recall effort. At right, Larry Elder retained his frontrunner status among candidates seeking to replace Gov. Newsom, according to early results.
By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
Early recall results, across the state and in Santa Barbara County, Tuesday night favored Gov. Gavin Newsom. As of press time, 67.1% of voters opposed the recall of the Democratic governor, according to the California secretary of state’s office. When the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, results showed there were 97,821 mail-in ballots cast in Santa Barbara County. Of them, 67.56%, or 65,904 people, voted against the recall. Supporting the recall were 32.44% or 31,643 voters. The 97,821 ballots equaled 41% of the total number of registered voters.
Joseph Holland, the county registrar of voters, told the NewsPress that the 97,821 figure is the highest number that the elections office has ever tabulated by the start of an election night. When the News-Press went to press, no numbers had been released for polling places. Results, meanwhile, aren’t official until they’re certified, which is 29 days from now. Among the candidates seeking to replace Gov. Newsom, Larry Elder, a conservative Los Angeles talk radio host and a Republican, retained his frontrunner status in the state and in Santa Barbara County. In this county, he had 41.38% or 22,582 votes. The other votes were split among 45 other candidates. The recall wasn’t the only
thing on the ballot in Lompoc. There were 5,753 mail-in ballots cast on Measure Q2021. Of those, 76.84% were in favor of the taxation measure, but the total number of mail-in ballots only reflected 29.21% of registered voters. If passed, Measure Q2021 would impose a tiered or graduated tax on manufacturers and distributors in the Lompoc cannabis industry. The bigger issue, though, was the recall election, which was essentially a referendum on Gov. Newsom’s COVID-19 policies. Mr. Holland credited the mail-in ballots for boosting this year’s turnout. He said he hopes the final turnout will be 67% of the county’s register voters, which would be similar to the 2003 recall in which Arnold
Schwarzenegger replaced Gov. Gray Davis. “Statistics have shown that if you mail people a ballot, they’re more than likely to vote than if they’re required to go to a polling place,” Mr. Holland said. He noted there were 54 polling places across the county and 30 drop boxes, where ballots could be dropped until 8 p.m. Tuesday. “There were plenty of opportunities for anyone to cast a ballot.” Mr. Holland said mail-in ballots help to make an election more secure. He added that the mailin ballots came in envelopes with the voter’s signature on the outside. He said the county elections staff doesn’t open those
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DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS
Cava Restaurant & Bar sports a home-like exterior on Coast Village Road in Montecito.
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76, 15 were between 19-24 years, 14 were between 65-74 years and five were among those ages 18 and under. One patient was missing age data. The median age of hospitalized patients overall last month was 54 years of age. Among unvaccinated patients, the median age was 52.5, and among the vaccinated, the median age was 80, Dr. DoReynoso said. In addition to this hospitalization data, Dr. DoReynoso provided an update on the latest case rates and community spread in the county. According to the latest metrics, Please see COVID-19 on A4
Amendments extended through fall 2023 By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday extended temporary ordinance amendments that will maintain special COVID-19 provisions for businesses through October 2023. In June 2020, the Board of Supervisors voted to implement regulations that temporarily suspended compliance with certain requirements of “approved permits, legal nonconforming uses and a hardship time extension” to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to the county’s Planning & Development Department. These regulations allowed many business owners to expand capacity and serve customers outdoors during the pandemic, which kept businesses up and running in a COVID-safe way. The amendments allow for the temporary expansion
of capacity, the temporary expansion of existing capacity for nonconforming uses and the temporary construction of structures, including those built for weather and sun protection, according to the Planning & Development Department’s presentation on Tuesday. These initial COVID-19 amendments were supposed to expire on Dec. 16, 2020, though the board voted in November 2020 to extend the expiration until the supervisors terminated the local emergency from COVID-19 or when the provisions were terminated by an ordinance amendment. However, with the delta variant gaining traction in the county, staff from the county’s Planning & Development Department recommended supervisors extend the amendment once again, but this time, through the Please see PROVISIONS on A4
L O T T E RY RESULTS
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Cava Restaurant & Bar is serving its final customers today after 24 years on Coast Village Road. The Montecito restaurant’s management wasn’t available for an interview, but told the News-Press it appreciates the community’s longtime support and welcomes customers on its last day of business. When the News-Press visited late Tuesday afternoon (before 5 p.m.), the restaurant had a good number of customers for that time of day. The restaurant has long been known for its Mediterranean and Nuevo Latino cuisine, as well as its creative, hand-crafted cocktails. Its menu has featured everything from fresh guacamole (in a molcajete) to shrimp empanadas and tortilla soup. The restaurant also has served dishes such as its roasted eggplant, tomato and basil quesadilla, as well as its halibut ceviche.
And Cava has offered a variety of tacos — including one with breaded shrimp — and wild salmon with papaya salsa. There’s also the atmosphere. On Coast Village Road, Cava, with its sloping roof and abundant greenery, looks like an inviting home. And as the creative signage notes, the restaurant was established in 1997. The restaurant also has an outdoor patio, which fits in with the atmosphere of Coast Village Road, and a home-like interior with a fireplace and a bar that the restaurant’s proud of. Cava has had a history of participating, along with other Coast Village Road restaurants, in Santa Barbara Restaurant Week. The hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the restaurant is at 1212 Coast Village Road. For more information, go to cavarestaurant. com or call 805-969-8500.
COURTESY PHOTO
Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, the county’s public health director, said data is showing COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing hospitalizations.
County extends COVID-19 provisions for businesses
Please see RECALL on A4
Cava Restaurant & Bar closes after 24 years By DAVE MASON
Nearly 85% of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County last month were unvaccinated, according to data presented by the Public Health Department during the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. According to the data, 112 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 across the county in August. Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital recorded 54 COVID-19 patients, Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria reported 39 COVID-19 patients and Lompoc Valley Medical Center reported 19 COVID-19 patients. Of these patients, 95 were unvaccinated, 10 were fully vaccinated, and eight were of unknown vaccination status. “What this tells us is the vaccines are effective in keeping people out of the hospital (and) preventing illness leading to hospitalization,” Dr. Van DoReynoso, the county’s public health director, told Supervisors on Tuesday. The data presented Tuesday also revealed a breakdown of the hospitalizations by age group, showing that the highest number of hospitalizations occurred within the 50-64 age range. According to the data, 31 of those hospitalized were between the ages of 50-64, 24 were in the 3049 range, 22 were over the age of
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