Orange County reports 162 new COVID-19 cases, 10 deaths

Santa Ana (CNS) — Authorities reported 162 new diagnoses of coronavirus on Friday, a cumulative increase to 55,345, resulting in an additional 10 deaths in COVID-19 in Orange County and an increase in deaths to 1,316.

Officials at the Orange County Healthcare Agency said they were pleased to see less than 200 new daily cases that kept the county in the red. To reach the unrestricted orange layer, the county should start on average nearly 130 cases per day.

Since Sunday, the county has reported 30 COVID-19 deaths, 72 last week and 77 last week. Of the deaths reported on Friday, four were residents of a skilled care facility.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 480 of the COVID-19 victims who died have been residents of skilled care facilities and 90 have lived in life support facilities. Death reports have been sporadic from multiple hospitals and other sources, so no deaths have occurred since the previous day.

The positive rate reported every Tuesday increased from 3.1% last week to 3.2%, and the daily case rate per 100,000 people increased from 4.4 to 5.2. This is higher than the cutoff of 3.9 to qualify for the transition from. The red to orange layer of the state’s coronavirus surveillance system.

Frank Kim, CEO of Orange County, told City News Service on Friday that the county averaged 4.9 per 100,000 inhabitants from a peak of 5.4 on October 5.

“Our numbers are heading in the right direction,” Kim said.

According to OCHCA, hospitalizations increased from 172 on Thursday to 176 on Friday, and the number of patients in the intensive care unit increased from 62 to 64. The 3-day average change in inpatients decreased from 9.9% to 6.4%.

31% of beds in the intensive care unit and 66% of ventilators are available in the county.

To qualify for the Orange layer, the positive rate should be between 2% and 4%, and the case rate per 100,000 should be between 1% and 3.9%.

Moving to the orange layer means that retailers can run at full capacity instead of the 50% required for the red layer. Shopping centers are fully operational, but like the red tier, common areas are closed and food courts are reduced.

According to OCHCA data, 929,241 COVID-19 tests were performed, including 10,821 reported on Friday. There were 49,628 documented collections.

Students at Los Alamitos High School were as positive as staff at Hopkinson Elementary School in the Los Alamitos Unified School District, but Kim said there was currently no evidence to suggest that the students were infected at school.

“This seemed to be a very normal type of infection that occurs when we re-enter the resumption and was not related to school infections as we can know. “Kim said. “The good news is that individuals are identified, they are engaged in tests, and students are isolated. That’s good news. The system is working.”

The Los Alamitos Unified School District was one of the schools that applied for and won an exemption to resume tutoring classes from kindergarten to sixth grade. High school students returned to campus at the end of last month.

The outbreak is defined as a small number of COVID-19 cases, and no outbreaks have been reported since the school returned to tutoring in the county, Kim said.

“No outbreaks were seen,” Kim said.

Students at the University of California, Irvine have also returned to campus, and so far no outbreaks have occurred, Kim said.

“In my understanding, they are doing 4,000 tests and will increase to 7,000 a week,” Kim said. “So they are actively testing students and staff, and that’s a good thing.”

Dr. Clayton Chau, director of OCHCA and chief health officer for the county, said increased testing could reduce positive rates, but could also increase case rates per 100,000 people. .. The state introduced health equity measures launched on Tuesday to help the county deal with a high number of cases that focus on specific zip codes, including dense housing and language barriers, among other issues. did.

A few weeks earlier, Orange County got off to a good start with a Latin American health equity program that raised awareness of the coronavirus in the hotspots of Santa Ana and Anaheim, Chau said. In some of these areas, positive rates have dropped by as much as 20% to single digits, Chau said.

The state official has an “accelerator” that has reached the yellow layer with the least limited positive rate, but if the case rate is red, the county can rise to orange, Chau said. ..

At a press conference Thursday, Orange County Chairman Michelle Steele blamed Sacramento’s “universal” policy of “punishing” Orange County for health and more “local control” in deciding to reopen its business. A measure of fairness that makes the transition to the orange layer more difficult.

However, Mr Chau said the county-specific version, implemented before the state began its policy, was spectacular and defended the measure of health equity.

The “health fairness problem” in low socio-economic areas “was before Covid, but thanks to Covid, this problem has been at the forefront and as a community we really want to tackle this problem. We have to get together, “he said.

County authorities are working to improve the overall health of poor families, including reducing diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, obesity, and substance abuse. Mr. Chau, for example, helped a student at Irvine Valley College who said county officials had recently been infected with COVID-19 and also infected two of his family members, but could be quarantined because the two families lived. Said he didn’t.

Chow has promised to work with nonprofits and other community partners to address the health inequality of poor communities.