The county reported 658 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday and recorded 40 more fatalities, bringing the cumulative number of cases to 243,163 and the death toll to 3,617. These figures reflect two days as there was no update on Monday for the Presidents ’Day party.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations continued a downward trend, with 748 patients treated for the virus at medical centers in the area, from 790 on Sunday, with a number of intensive care units rising from 257 to 235.
The county has 15.3% of ICU beds available, as well as 56% of fans, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.
“We haven’t seen any sinks so far since the Super Bowl, so that’s good news,” Orange County CEO Frank Kim told City News Service.
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Of the 40 deaths reported on Tuesday, two were qualified residents in nursing centers and five were residents in care centers, bringing these totals to 902 and 406, respectively.
Death reports are staggered because they come from various sources and are not always recorded immediately.
The death toll in January now stands at 1,040, surpassing the previous record in December, with 859 deaths recorded during that month. This means that 52% of the county’s death toll since the first fatality on March 19, 2020 occurred during those two months.
The death toll for February is 26 so far.
The deadliest day of the pandemic in Orange County was January 5, when 63 people died. The second maximum was on January 3, when 61 people died.
The county’s adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 people fell from 29.7 last week to 20.7 on Tuesday, and the test positivity rate averaged seven days, with a seven-day delay, fell from 9.4% to 7.8%, which meets the criteria for the red level.
The positivity rate for the county’s health equity quartile, which measures cases in most affected and neediest areas of the county, fell from 12.4% last week to 10.7%.
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The color-coded level frame numbers in the state are updated on Tuesdays.
To move to the less restrictive red level than the purple level, the county needs to improve from 4 to 7 new cases per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 5% to 8% with a health equity quartile of 5, 3% to 8%. And the county should maintain the metrics for two consecutive weeks.
Orange County Board of Supervisors Andrew Do said that if trends continue, the “best case” happens three or four weeks before the county turns red.
At that time, in mid to late March, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be available, Do said.
“Right now, we could really make progress in reopening our economy,” he said.
Kim said the county has “one foot at the red level and another firmly planted in purple still.”
The county will open a new vaccine distribution site Wednesday at Santa Ana School in Santa Ana. The county aims to dispense about 1,000 vaccines a day and up to 1,500 ultimately, Do said.
Orange County has reached the state threshold for reopening kindergartens through sixth grade, but most schools in the county have already opened a combination of virtual and direct learning.
The Anaheim Elementary School District plans to resume face-to-face learning on March 15th. The Buena Park School District is gradually introducing face-to-face instruction to begin on February 22nd.
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