County Says Half Marathon Illnesses Match Heat Illness, With 30 Runners Treated
Santa Barbara County health officials said Monday that 30 participants received treatment during Sunday's half marathon and that the signs pointed to heat illness. Cottage Health counted 27 arrivals at its two emergency departments, and the police inquiry continues.
Santa Barbara County health officials said Monday that 30 participants in Sunday's half marathon received medical treatment after runners began showing signs that matched heat-related illness, according to a statement the county health department released on Monday. The race, held on Sunday, November 8, ran 13.1 miles along the Pacific and through downtown, and organizers put registered participation at about 7,500 people.
The first call for help came at about 8:41 a.m., for a runner whose signs matched heat exhaustion, among them lightheadedness and feeling faint, the county said. Requests then multiplied along the course. Of the 30 people treated, 26 were taken on to emergency departments, 19 to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and seven to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, and four were treated and released at the scene. No cases involving spectators or bystanders were reported, according to the county.
Cottage Health kept its own tally of arrivals. The company said 27 participants came to its emergency departments in Santa Barbara and Goleta, and that 24 of them had been treated and discharged by Monday, with the three others in stable condition. The county count of people transported and the hospital count of arrivals are separate tallies kept by separate agencies, and the two figures were published side by side on Monday.
The health department described the episode as confined to the race itself and to the heat of the day, and said it saw no sign of a wider risk to the community. The cause remains under investigation, the county said. Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county health officer, urged anyone who was at the race and still feels ill to get medical care and to follow up with a doctor. County environmental health staff inspected the site where the race electrolyte drinks were prepared on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday morning, before temporary food facility permits were issued, the statement said.
The Santa Barbara Police Department opened an investigation after the hospital reported multiple participants arriving for treatment with unusual symptoms, and the department said the cause of the reported symptoms has not been confirmed and that no specific action is recommended for the public. The temperature in Santa Barbara reached 80 degrees by 10 a.m. on Sunday, a National Weather Service meteorologist told the Associated Press, on a November day when high temperatures usually reach the lower to mid-70s. The race medical tent sent 15 people on to local hospitals, event director David Monico said. No agency has announced a final cause, and the police investigation is continuing.
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