Hospitalization for OC COVID-19 stabilizes as the number of ICU patients increases

Santa Ana, CA (CNS) —Orange County’s COVID-19 hospitalization was stable again on Friday, and one epidemiologist speculated that the county might have peaked with this latest delta variant fuel surge. ..

The Orange County Healthcare Agency reported that viral hospitalization increased from 497 on Thursday to 498 on Friday, while the number of patients in the intensive care unit decreased from 126 to 120.

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What you need to know

• Andrew Neumer, an epidemiologist and professor of population health and disease prevention at the University of California, Irvine, said the county experienced the worst of this latest surge, as hospitalizations have been stable since Wednesday. Said that there is a possibility of
• Frank Kim, CEO of Orange County, said at least 20% of inpatients tend to enter the intensive care unit.
• Overall, county hospitals have enough staff and beds to handle the surge this summer.
• Dr. Colleen Cunningham, chief pediatrician at Orange County Children’s Hospital, said the facility has admitted about 600 children to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

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Andrew Neumer, an epidemiologist and professor of population health and disease prevention at the University of California, Irvine, said the county experienced the worst of this latest surge due to stable hospitalizations since Wednesday. Said that it could mean.

“You may have found the peak of this wave,” Neumer told City News Services. “I’m not sure if that’s the case yet, but we’re heading in the right direction. Still, it’s too early to make a call,” he said.

The percentage of positive cases “has risen a bit today, but it’s an unstable number,” Neumer said.

“Ultimately, hospitalization is an important indicator,” Neumer said. “I’m glad it looks like I’m finding the top number of hospitals … it’s interesting to see what happens on Monday.”

Lisa Bartlett, a former president of the California County Association and supervisor of Orange County, said it was not uncommon for the number of patients to fluctuate and level off during the surge.

“It’s important to know how long people have been in the hospital,” Bartlett said. “Are they there for 3 months or 3 days?”

Bartlett also said, “We have enough capacity and ventilators. Our healthcare system is currently in good shape despite the surge in COVID, so Orange County is currently on track. I have. “

According to Bartlett, officials in all counties are paying close attention to positive rates, as it is estimated that about 18% of infected people will eventually be admitted to hospitals.

Many factors are involved in the doctor’s decision to move the patient to the intensive care unit, Neumer said. That does not mean that ICU patients are in crisis or are fighting for their lives.

“Composing an ICU bed is a kind of call for judgment within the hospital,” Neumer said. “If the overall hospitalization does not change, it means that the severity at the county level has not changed, and hopefully it will drop soon, so that’s good.”

Frank Kim, CEO of Orange County, told City News Service that at least 20% of inpatients tend to enter the intensive care unit. Kim believes officials “will be clearer in the next two weeks” on Thursday.

The surge will subside when hospitalizations level off, but if it continues to grow, it will be “difficult to manage,” Kim said.

Overall, the county hospital has enough staff and beds to handle the surge this summer, Kim said.

As of Friday, 22% of ICU beds and 70% of ventilators were available in the county.

Dr. Colleen Cunningham, chief pediatrician at Orange County Children’s Hospital, said the facility has admitted about 600 children to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

“Early this summer, there were many days when there were no children (infected with the coronavirus in CHOC),” Cunningham said in a media briefing hosted by Orange County supervisor Katrina Foley. ..

“I was starting to feel like the worst was over …. Since early July, the number of children with COVID has begun to grow steadily,” said the doctor.

As of Thursday, CHOC had 10 COVID-19 patients, half of whom were in the intensive care unit, all unvaccinated, Cunningham said.

“They are seriously ill,” she said. “These are not children with a runny nose.”

Cunningham acknowledged that children are unlikely to experience a serious illness due to COVID-19. “But they have no immunity and can get serious illness.”

Many children initially experience mild symptoms of COVID-19, but later arrive at the hospital because of pneumonia or multisystem inflammatory syndrome that can damage the heart and other organs. She said CHOC treated 77 patients with MIS-C due to COVID-19.

She said that some of the patients in the hospital developed long-distance transport symptoms of COVID-19.

Cunningham advocated more masking and social distance to control the spread of the virus.

“If an adult recommends wearing a mask, the child will wear it. It’s not just about preventing infections for people wearing masks,” she said, adding masks also prevents virus infections. To do. She said children could experience mild symptoms like COVID-19 and could unknowingly shed the virus.

“We have to do everything we can to keep our children safe,” Cunningham said.

Neumer emphasized that previously infected residents need to understand that they can be re-infected with the coronavirus. The delta variant is “much more contagious and people can be infected twice,” he said.

The last time Orange County welcomed so many COVID-19 patients to the intensive care unit was at the end of February. The last time I was hospitalized was February 25th.

Last summer’s peak was 722 inpatients, according to Neumer.

Hospitalization is the most important indicator that public health professionals are paying attention to. Infection rates can be caused by increased demand for testing or breakthrough infections in vaccinated people who usually experience few or no symptoms.

On Friday, the county reported 933 new infections, and the cumulative number of cases has increased to 273,847 since the start of the pandemic.

Two more deaths were recorded, one on August 2nd and the other on August 3rd, increasing the death toll this month to three.

The death toll in July was 13. June is 16. May is 22nd. April is 43. March is 199. February is 612. January, the worst month of the pandemic, is 1,563, and the next worst month, December, is 968.

The cumulative death toll in the county is 5,156.

Experts expect fewer deaths because patient demographics are younger and more distorted than the winter surge. Currently, there are vaccines available for all age groups over the age of 12, and the majority of the county’s older people (most vulnerable to COVID-19) are vaccinated.

The county updated vaccination counts on Thursday. The county has a population of approximately 3.2 million, including 127,665 who received a single Johnson & Johnson vaccination, of which 1,941,560 are fully vaccinated.

According to experts, a total of 232,057 inhabitants have received at least one double vaccination from Pfizer and Modana, the majority of whom will receive a second vaccination.

According to the Orange County Healthcare Agency, the case rate for fully vaccinated residents is significantly lower than the case rate for fully unvaccinated residents. According to a Thursday update, the 7-day case rate is 7.4 per 100,000 people with full vaccination, compared to 40.1.

The county reported 12,341 tests on Friday, increasing the cumulative total to 4,466,241. According to Kim, the growing demand for COVID-19 testing may be due to demands from states and employers.