OC Report 3,121 new cases of COVID-19, record hospitalization

Santa Ana, CA — Orange County reported a whopping 3,121 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 additional deaths on Sunday, but set a new record for coronavirus-related hospitalizations.

County officials reported 1,236 hospitalizations on Sunday, and 284 people were admitted to the intensive care unit. This was more than Saturday, when 1,150 people were hospitalized and 273 were hospitalized in the ICU. Prior to this month, the record for ICU patients in mid-July was 245, and the entire hospitalization has been updated daily since December 2.

The percentage of ICU beds available in Orange County was 11.2%, but according to the Orange County Healthcare Agency, the percentage was 1.6% according to the new state’s indicators of “tuned” ICU bed availability.

In Orange County, 54% of ventilators were available, but the average 3-day inpatient change was 19.1%.

New cases and deaths resulted in a total of 102,514 cases and 1,694 deaths in the county.

The county took a total of 1,694,359, 21,438 tests on Sunday. There were 65,621 documented collections.

“Today’s numbers of #Anaheim and #OC are shocking and tough new highs, with 14 dead and 6 dead in Anaheim,” the city of Anaheim tweeted. “The numbers speak for themselves. We all know what we need to do and it’s time to do it.”

County CEO Frank Kim said the “adjusted” ICU rate essentially reflects the estimated number of beds available to COVID-19 patients, given the number of beds required for patients without coronavirus. Said that.

Dr. Carl Schultz, HCA’s EMS Medical Director, notified county hospitals and ambulance providers on Wednesday night to prepare for a surge in COVID-19 patients in consideration of the discontinuation of selective surgery.

“Hospitals are overwhelmed by patients admitted to both the floor and the ICU. At current rates of deterioration, the EMS system can collapse unless emergency directives are now implemented,” he wrote. I will.

The letter applies to hospitals for state exemptions to enable surge planning, establish alternative treatment areas in the emergency department to expand capacity, cancel all selective surgery, and support surge planning. We are requesting the establishment of an emergency operations center.

“All healthcare partners and Orange County citizens are grateful for the facilities that have activated these initiatives,” Schultz wrote. “There is still time for those who choose to take this painful but not necessary action, but you have to do it now.”

Dr. Clayton Chau, Chief Health Officer and Director of Healthcare Agency in the county, said his agency’s letter to the hospital was triggered by a recent report that he would wait more than an hour in an ambulance before being sent to another hospital. It was. It was full.

“If the patient sits in the ambulance for more than an hour, we will guide the patient to the next closest emergency room,” Chau said.

According to the HCA, the average time it takes to transport a patient by ambulance over a 24-hour period is 18-19 minutes. Over the past month, 15 emergency response coordinators have had more than 30 minutes of ambulance transport time, and 4 have had more than an hour.

According to Kim, Orange County officials are preparing to reopen the Fairview Development Center next week to treat patients with mild COVID-19.

“The numbers in our entire region are not good,” he told City News Service. “There is no other way to say it. Case rates continue to rise, and sometime between the 7th and 12th, we know that hospitalizations may increase because they are directly related to new infections. . “Re-acquire. “

According to Kim, the main problem is asymptomatic people who unknowingly shed the virus because most sick people are at home or hospitalized. According to Kim, some residents may have mild symptoms of “shrugging” and may have a cold or flu and need to be tested.

According to Kim, the vaccine has already been shipped and has been given about 25,000 doses on the way to Orange County. He said the county has the freezer and dry ice needed to store the drug, and front-line hospital workers are expected to receive the Pfizer vaccine first.

“We have agreements with local universities and hospitals that we have a place to store vaccines if for some reason the vaccines are too large to handle,” Kim said. “And we worked on security and backed up the generator in case the power went down. We tried to address all potential issues.”

Kim said the plan was to use the dose as soon as possible.

“Once it’s in, I’ll get it all out in 48 hours,” Kim said. “I don’t want to sit on it. The moment it enters, I don’t care what time it is, I push it out.”

Don Burns of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office warned residents to be wary of fraudulent marketing as the first shipment of the vaccine will arrive soon, and said the vaccine will be distributed free of charge.

The county outbreaks in prisons continued to grow, with the number of infected prisoners increasing from 102 on Thursday to 138. Twenty-seven of them are newly booked prisoners and 111 are of the general population.

When Defendant Austin Ambriz was COVID-19 positive, this outbreak also affected current murder trials. Closing arguments were scheduled for Thursday, but his trial was postponed until January 4.

The county is also addressing the increasing outbreaks in skilled care and living support facilities. As of Saturday, more than one COVID-19 was identified in 28 skilled care facilities and more than one case in 29 care facilities.

According to Kim, county officials are being asked to provide personal protective equipment, more training or personnel to curb the spread of COVID-19 at these facilities.

Chau begged the inhabitants to stay at home as much as possible and cover his face when mixed with people outside the house.

“Don’t mix households,” he said. “Again, don’t confuse your household … Don’t travel. You need a curfew. You need to be at home.”

Adjusted daily case rates per 100,000 people in Orange County rose to 30.3 on Tuesday, up from 22.2 last week, and positive rates rose from 8.8% to 10.6%.

The county’s health inequal quartile positive rate, which measures cases in poor areas with high county influence, rose from 13% last week to 16.2% this week.

Currently, all county indicators are included in the state’s most restrictive, purple four-layer coronavirus monitoring system layer.

The county’s home test kit program is growing, Chau said. Since the program began in Santa Ana and Anaheim on November 19, the county has shipped 19,233 home test kits free of charge. The county has received 4,866 kit orders since it was opened to other parts of the county this week, Chau said.

— City News Service