Orange County explores potential move to Orange for coronavirus regulation on Tuesday – NBC Los Angeles

Orange County reported 246 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths on Sunday, bringing the county to a total of 53,315 and 1,216 deaths.

Hospitalization increased from 156 to 165 on Saturday, but the number of patients in intensive care decreased from 47 to 45.

The Orange County Healthcare Agency also reported on Sunday that 846,896 COVID-19 tests were conducted, including 8,851 reported on Sunday. There were 47,783 documented recovery.

Of the two deaths reported on Sunday, none lived in a skilled nursing or long-term care facility. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 446 skilled nursing facility residents and 85 long-term care facility residents.

Authorities are hoping that their overall trends will improve sufficiently and that the county will rise to the orange layer of the state surveillance system by Tuesday, when the positive rate per 100,000 and the new rate of cases will be updated. There is. The county has been below and slightly above the average for the orange layer over the past week. So it’s unclear what the average on Tuesday will be.

“Tuesday is cautiously optimistic,” said director Lisa Bartlett. “We’re heading in the right direction, but we need to see where we are … Now there are a few signs of these surges, but it depends on how we average.”

The tier system reflects the metric used by the state to assess the county’s efforts to slow the spread of the virus using new daily cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Bartlett and Orange County CEO Frank Kim said it was unclear what was the driving force behind Spike. According to Kim, the most persistent and common problem continues to be the expansion of family gatherings.

Bartlett is concerned that the return of students from the University of California, Irvine, to the campus this week will affect outbreaks of outbreaks at San Diego State University.

“San Diego barely held the red layer,” Bartlett said of the layer just above the most restrictive purple layer.

“We have students from other counties, other states, and other countries,” Bartlett said. “Even with a strong test program, I saw first-hand what was happening in San Diego. I hate to reproduce it here in Orange County.”

The overall positive rate went from 3.9% to 3.1%, and the daily number of cases per 100,000 people decreased from 4.7 to 3.6. The county must stay within that range for another week, after which it can move from red to orange.

After moving to Orange Tier, retailers will be able to operate at full capacity instead of 50% of the current Red Tear. Shopping centers could be fully operational, but like Red Tear, common areas were closed and food courts were reduced.

The Orange Layer will increase the capacity of churches, restaurants, movies, museums, zoos and aquariums from 25% to half. Gyms and fitness centers can increase capacity from 10% to 25% and reopen the pool.

The orange layer also allows family entertainment centers such as bowling alleys and wall climbing to open up to 25% capacity indoors.

Orange County schools are already eligible to reopen for indoor tutoring, but not all will reopen soon. Schools in Fountain Valley and several other districts reopened on Tuesday.

According to Kim, the decision is up to the school district, and many offer a “hybrid model” of face-to-face and online-only instruction. Some school districts allow parents to continue only distance learning.

The county’s director and chief health officer, Dr. Clayton Chau, said that if an outbreak occurred at any school, it would need to be closed for two weeks and the COVID-19 case would need to be reopened without resuming Said.

Dr. Matthew Zahn of the county’s epidemic control department told reporters Thursday that if 5% of the school’s student or teacher population were infected, the campus would be closed for two weeks, according to state guidelines.

The county posted information about outbreaks in schools, as Mr. Zahn tends to send false messages that non-outbreak schools are safer and parents and students may be vigilant. He said he was reluctant to do.

He also said that when there was a measles outbreak dating back to Disneyland, the county first tried to post where the infected went, but that was too much of a hassle to do so.

Patrick Healy reports on NBC4 News on Friday, September 25, 2020.

According to Zahn, school officials will respond within 24 hours if a COVID-19 infection is reported.

Regarding college dormitories, Zahn said, “The key issue related to (what happened in San Diego) was off-campus housing and virus infections. Discussed with UC Irvine and other universities as well as classroom sites. And suitable are dormitory facilities and off-campus housing. “

University officials emphasize to students the importance of following guidelines to control the spread of the virus.

“I know the University of California, Irvine is planning regular tests for staff and students,” Zahn said. “And at the national level, there seems to be useful evidence, which is encouraging … but we are learning how this works in all situations.”

The “Move in Week” will begin on Tuesday at UCI and will continue until next Tuesday. Students have been tested and are getting results within 48-72 hours.