Orange County reported 1,058 new cases of COVID-19, but no additional deaths were reported Sunday, bringing the county’s total to 77,819 cases with 1,577 deaths.
The number of county residents hospitalized with the virus rose from 4,534 to 777 on Saturday, with the number of intensive care patients rising from 188 to 1, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.
The three-day average of hospitalized patients changed from 12.3% to 13.6%. The county has 25% of its intensive care unit beds and 63% of its ventilators available.
The growing numbers over the holiday weekend confirm the fears of the Thanksgiving-fueled extra officers. Orange County CEO Frank Kim said earlier this week that he was “very concerned” about the case and the hospitalization.
“And yet, in conversations with various hospitals (executives) with me, they seem more confident than ever about how they are being treated for the disease, but I’m not taking any of them lightly,” Kim said. “Hospitalization and any increase in ICU rates is a significant concern for our community.”
Officials recommend waiting at least two days after an event or gathering for testing as the infection cannot be detected right now.
UC Irvine Associate Professor of Population Health and Disease Prevention Andrew Numer warned of a severe winter.
“I’m really upset about the trends we’re going to see after Thanksgiving,” he told the City News Service. “People don’t appreciate that we’ve been registering deaths from the summer wave since October.”
Numer predicted more cases than the peak of July.
“But this is not going to be the same as the second of July,” Neumer said. “I think it’s going to get worse.”
Hospital admissions were at an all-time high on Aug. 10, Noymer said.
“We’ll be back to July (level) by the end of next week,” said Nooyoy Mere.
Numer said this is mainly because cold weather is pushing people towards more indoor activities and some students are still attending classes in the classrooms.
The worst day to be admitted to COVID-19 Hospital in Orange County was July 14, when there were 722 patients.
In the state’s tiered monitoring system, which is updated Tuesday, the county’s systematic daily case rate per 100,000 residents increased from 10.8 to 17.2 and the positivity rate increased from 6.6% to 8.8%.
The positivity rate fits into the red level of the state’s four-tier re-guidance, but the daily case rate per 100,000 is well above the 8% threshold for the highly restricted purple level.
Kim said he is optimistic the vaccine is on track and is expected to arrive by the end of the year. The hospital hospital systems will receive the vaccines directly and individual hospitals will receive doses from the county, Kim said.
Frontline health care workers will be among the first to receive vaccinations, including those with underlying health conditions that make them particularly susceptible to the disease.
Cannon Nolan of NBC 4 holds a Ph.D. with Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Director of Health. Talks with that steps are being taken to prevent an increase in the seaweed case. Are we doing enough or are there some measures such as banning outdoor dining – considered unnecessary by some – really ending the growing transmission of the virus by sending more people indoors?
It is hoped that increased testing and awareness of the infection will encourage more alertness and isolation and other social distance methods that will help prevent the spread of the virus, Kim said.
Kim said the county tests are 354.1 per 100,000, which has exceeded the county’s targets for testing at this stage.
Kim said the county is focusing on encouraging testing. The number of tests taken in the county was 1,445,183, with 8,037 reported on Sunday. There have been retrieval of 59,401 documentation.
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