Orange County COVID hospitalizations show an increase

Santa Ana, CA (CNS) — Orange County’s COVID-19 hospitalization exceeded 200 as health officials again warned of a winter surge on Wednesday, forcing all sixth-grade Yorba Linda classes to quarantine. Classes are conducted online.

The county recorded 314 new infections and 10 more deaths on Wednesday, increasing the cumulative number of cases from the entire pandemic to 318,066 and the death toll to 5,839.

Hospitalization increased from 194 on Tuesday to 206 on Wednesday, and the number of patients in the intensive care unit increased from 63 to 64.

The county has 24.5% of ICU beds and 70% of ventilators available. Of the inpatients, 87% are unvaccinated and 89% of the ICU are unvaccinated.

Frank Kim, CEO of Orange County, told news sources that most of the COVID-19 indicators are slightly tracked.

As of Thursday last week, the county case rate per 100,000 was 7.6, an increase to 9.8 as of Sunday, but decreased to 9.2 as of Wednesday, Kim said.

“So it’s a kind of declining four days in a row, albeit slightly,” Kim said.

He said the positive rate fluctuated between 3.2% and 3.4% this week.

The test also went up by about 40%, Kim said.

“It’s generally positive, and hopefully you won’t see a surge,” Kim said.

Health officials speculate that the pandemic could turn into an epidemic within the next six months, Kim said.

“There are times of small spikes and times of decline, but at least next year, as most people think, this is a new way in the world to deal with COVID,” Kim said.

According to the Prasentia Yobarinda Unified School District, the sixth grade of Travis Ranch School went home and studied via Zoom this week after “dozens of incidents” occurred.

The county health adjutant, Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, said the outbreak was similar to any other outbreak nationwide.

“Most people were either unvaccinated or partially unvaccinated,” Chinsio-Kwong told reporters. “It would have helped if more people had been vaccinated at school.”

Officials at the Orange County Healthcare Agency were still investigating what had happened, but we found that there could have been one unvaccinated, asymptomatic adult on campus. I know, “said Chinsio-Kwong.

“And many of the children in the classroom weren’t vaccinated,” said Chinsio-Kwong.

To play it safely, she said the district decided to choose virtual education for the week.

“Maybe it would be useful for us to go into winter vacation,” she said.

According to Chinsio-Kwong, 18% of newly eligible people in the age group of 5 to 11 have been vaccinated at least once in the county. She said the number of age groups between the ages of 12 and 17 is 70%.

According to Chinsio-Kwong, there are “at least 200,000” children aged 5 to 11 who need to start the vaccination process. And she added that about 70,000 people in the 12 to 17-year-old group still need to start vaccination.

“It’s a significant part of the children who still need to be vaccinated,” said Chinsio-Kwong.

Dr. Steven Abelowitz, Director of Community Health at Coastal Kids Pediatrics, agreed that “18% is too low,” but said parents seemed more comfortable with the idea of ​​vaccination of their children.

Nationally, one-third of parents want to vaccinate their children, one-third are on the fence, and one-third seem to oppose it. Abelowitz said some parents left Coastal Kids to defend the vaccine.

“We actually felt a lot of resistance at first, mainly because of the false information there,” said Abelowitz. “But there is a slight positive trend for two reasons.”

“One of the big concerns there is the potential correlation with myocarditis,” he said.

According to doctors, about 1 in 10,000 cases of older children, mainly men, have been reported, but it is considered to be extremely rare.

According to Abelowitz, “no such situation has been seen so far” in the group aged 5-11, whose shots were recently approved.

In addition, Abelowitz said the risk of heart damage was significantly higher with COVID-19 than with side effects to the vaccine.

“Overall, we encourage parents to vaccinate their children just because the benefits outweigh the risks,” Abiroutz said.

Chinsio-Kwong said the newly discovered COVID variant, Omicron, is 2-3 times more contagious than the delta variant, ensuring that it is more likely to be infected.

“Don’t wait,” Chinsio-Kwong advised his parents. “Omicron is there. Get it ahead of time. Get your vaccine in line today.”

No one should wait for a vaccine designed for the Omicron variant, as it may take several months to complete the approval process, she said.

“For now, our best chance is to be fully vaccinated if qualified and to get a booster if qualified. Be careful if you have an immunodeficiency,” Chinsio- Kwong said.

On the first day the new state mandated masks in indoor public spaces, Chinsio-Kwong said it was important for residents to cover their three layers of face, fit snugly into their mouths and wear them properly. Said. nose.

“The question I keep asking the public is what the” public “means,” she said. “Public is everywhere outside your private residence.”

Doctors also prescribed to eat healthier foods, avoid stress and anxiety, and check family, friends, and neighbors.

“We need to take care of ourselves, but we also need to take care of our community,” she said.

Sheriff Don Burns issued this statement regarding the enforcement of the state’s Maskman Date.

“In line with our previous approach, wearing a face cover is a matter of personal responsibility, not law enforcement. With a limited exception, not wearing a face cover is public. It’s a violation of public health, but it’s not a real application of a criminal law violation.

“As always, agents demand voluntary compliance and take an education-first approach with the general public regarding face-covering requirements across the state. Orange County residents continue to use common sense and need it. I expect to wear a face cover responsibly according to the state. “

Of the deaths recorded on Wednesday, two have occurred this month and so far the death toll has risen to four. Seven cases occurred last month, and the number of deaths in November increased to 92. One dates back to January.

The death toll was 125 in October, 195 in September and 182 in August.

In contrast, the more contagious delta mutant fuels killed 31 people before the summer surge in July, 19 in June, 26 in May, 46 in April, and March. There were 202 people and 619 people in February.

January 2021 was the worst month of the pandemic, with 1,596 deaths, the next worst 985 before December 2020.