Orange County now has the second-highest number of coronavirus infections in California, as the region and the state continue to deal with sharp spikes in the number of confirmed cases.
The cumulative COVID-19 case count in Orange County was 29,986 on Tuesday, just ahead of Riverside County’s 29,983. Los Angeles County alone is highest, with nearly 160,000 cases.
During the 14 days leading up to Tuesday, Orange County reported 12,104 additional cases of COVID-19, a figure that was only lower than that of Los Angeles, according to The Times’ coronavirus tracker. During that same time, Riverside County confirmed 9,428; San Bernardino County, 8,754; and San Diego County, 7,135.
However, in accounting for the population, Orange County has reported fewer overall cases per 100,000 residents than Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, but more than San Diego County.
Orange County also reported the second highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in the state, 127, during the same 14-day period.
Overall, only Los Angeles, with 4,104 deaths, and Riverside, with 588, have lost more residents to the coronavirus. Both counties have also seen more deaths per 100,000 residents than Orange County, while San Bernardino and San Diego have seen fewer, according to The Times tracker.
During a press conference last week, Orange County Executive Officer Frank Kim said he did not believe the region’s case rate was out of line with that of neighboring counties.
“Obviously, there are some days when one county is taller than another,” he said, “but he didn’t see us as an outlier in the large urban counties of Southern California.”
On Tuesday, Orange County recorded 990 additional cases of COVID-19, health officials said, bringing its cumulative total to 30,976. They also reported 20 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 513.
An estimated 15,232 people have recovered from the coronavirus to date in Orange County, according to the county Health Care Agency.
During the first days of the pandemic, Orange County seemed to escape the devastating outbreaks and death tolls that affected other parts of the state, especially Los Angeles. The county did not exceed COVID-19’s 100 confirmed deaths until May 9, more than two weeks later. Riverside County reached that milestone, according to public health data.
Some officials cited the county’s first numbers as evidence that the region was ready to more widely reopen businesses that were closed under the order to stay home in California. The state gave Orange County the green light to reopen restaurants for on-site dining two days before Memorial Day.
But, as has been the case statewide, the reopening of businesses and public spaces in Orange County has been followed by sharp increases in confirmed coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. It can take three to four weeks after exposure for infected people to get sick enough to be hospitalized.
With cases increasing at an alarming rate, Governor Gavin Newsom announced state restrictions last week to again stop all closed restaurants and bars, zoos, and museums. More than two dozen counties on the state’s watch list, including Orange County, were forced to close gyms, houses of worship, nonessential worker offices, shopping malls, and indoor operations at nail and nail salons.
Orange County has made headlines for politically and publicly rejecting some of the restrictions intended to help stop the spread of the disease.
An important point of discussion has been whether residents should wear masks. In early June, the county public health official resigned after weeks of verbal attacks, including a death threat, over his mandatory mask rules. His replacement then overturned the rules amid intense pressure, instead “strongly recommending” that residents cover their faces when in public.
Newsom issued a state-wide mask order soon after, though it remains to be seen how strictly those requirements will be met or enforced locally.
The Orange County Board of Education also voted last week to recommend the reopening of schools without requiring the use of masks for students, although specific reopening plans would be left to individual school districts.
Newsom essentially made the matter moot when it announced Friday that school campuses will remain closed in counties on the watch list.
“We have seen in Orange County increased resistance to wearing masks,” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a medical epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “So I think we are seeing increased transmission – community transmission – in Orange County due to lower levels of mask use.”
Times staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II and Jake Sheridan contributed to this report.
