500,000 people await coronavirus vaccine in Orange County, 29 dead

Orange County, California — Coronavirus killed another 29 people in Orange County, increasing the number of deaths to 2,868, Orange County Healthcare reported. They say hospitalization rates have been declining.

Of the deaths reported on Thursday, two helped residents of the living facility. As a result, the death toll has increased to 310 residents of supported living facilities, and 813 residents of skilled long-term care facilities have also succumbed to the coronavirus.

So far, 424 people died in the county from coronavirus-related causes in January. The last confirmed coronavirus death occurred on January 17th. Death reports come from a variety of sources and are delayed, so the numbers will continue to grow until next month.

Andrew Neumer, a professor of artificial health and disease prevention at the University of California, Irvine, predicts last week that it will take 22 days for the county to reach 4,000 deaths.

Hospitalization rates continue to decline.

The number of patients hospitalized for the virus decreased from 1,639 on Wednesday to 1,592 on Thursday, and the number of patients in the intensive care unit decreased from 448 to 439.

Adjusted ICU bed availability in the county state remained zero, with unadjusted numbers dropping from 10.1% on Wednesday to 8.5% on Thursday. The state has created a metric tailored to reflect the differences in beds available to COVID-19 and non-coronavirus patients. In the county, 41% of ventilators are available.

In the Southern California region, ICU availability remains zero.
The county recorded 1,276 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, increasing the cumulative total to 228,297.

The county’s health inequal quartile positive rate, which measures cases in poorly affected areas, dropped from 21.2% last week to 16.6% on Tuesday. The state updates statistics every Tuesday.

The adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 people decreased from 67.1 to 46.6, and the average 7-day test positive rate with a 7-day lag decreased from 16.7% to 12.9%.

To move from the upper (purple) layer of the state’s coronavirus regulation system to the less restrictive red layer, the county has 4-7 new daily cases per 100,000 and 5% -8% of health. It needs to be improved to a positive rate. The quartile of the stock is 5.3% to 8%.

This week, Orange County supervisors provided fierce critique of the county’s Otena app and website for scheduling vaccinations. However, county CEO Frank Kim said Wednesday that the program had improved significantly.

“Otena is working,” Kim told City News Service. “I know people are frustrated, but most of the technical concerns I hear from the general public want to have a clear understanding of whether they have forgotten their password or when their turn will come. Is to be. “

Patch receives hundreds of emails from residents who have various concerns about online applications.

According to the Othena app, 511,544 people are enrolled in Othena, 90,252 patients have been vaccinated and 104,675 have appointments for injections.

Of the registrants, a quarter are over 75 and 65% are over 65.

“We know that nearly 500,000 residents have been registered and are currently waiting in line, and they are frustrated, which is understandable,” Kim said. “I’m interested in getting the vaccine as soon as possible. This is good.”

The county authorities want to provide further updates to those registered through the app.

“It will take some time. We are looking for patience. As we get more vaccine allocations, we will be able to contact you sooner,” Kim said. “Please wait. We will try to contact you as much as possible.”

OCHCA reported 19,733 tests on Thursday, bringing the total to 2,621,830.

Due to the surge in post-holiday incidents and deaths, the Orange County Security Department’s coroner must provide the trailer with a freezer to store an average of about 100 bodies until the funeral home can catch up and take them. It didn’t happen, Kim said.

Under severe circumstances, the South Coast Air Quality Control District on Monday temporarily suspended restrictions on the cremation of Orange County until February 4. Authorities have restricted crematoriums to control air pollution.

Outbreaks in county prisons continue to decline, with the number of infected prisoners declining from 40 on Wednesday to 32 on Thursday. Authorities were waiting for the results of 306 tests. The two prisoners remain hospitalized.

As of Wednesday, outbreaks were reported in 26 skilled care facilities and 39 elderly support living facilities in the county (defined as at least two cases in the last two weeks).

Established to handle overflows from local hospitals, Costa Mesa’s Fairview Development Center currently has 29 patients, 19 from Orange County, 8 from Los Angeles County, and 1 from Riverside and San Bernardino County. Is being treated.

Ashley Ludwig, patch editor of City News Service, contributed to this report.