Orange County public health officials on Wednesday reported the province’s first death of a youth related to COVID-19.
The teenage girl had underlying medical conditions, the province’s health department said in a news release. Their exact age and identity were not released.
“We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and send our condolences to her friends and family during this very difficult time,” Clayton Chau, the province’s acting officer, said in a statement.
The teen was the second California younger than 18, whose death was confirmed in connection with COVID-19. Last month, officials announced that a Central Valley teenager with underlying health conditions had died from COVID-19 at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera.
The deaths come amid a rise in coronavirus cases among children and teens in California. Fallout demographics were up 150% last month, a rate that COVID-19 infections generally outfaces and minors as a small but growing proportion of the entire state’s cases.
The increase also appears to surpass the number of coronavirus cases among children nationwide, which grew 40% in the second half of July, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Assn.
Nationally represented children with COVID-19 accounted for about 8.8% of all U.S. cases at the end of July, compared with 9% in California, the analysis found.
In total, Orange County registered 295 new cases of the virus and 18 deaths Wednesday, bringing the total to 44,507 cases and 833 deaths.
There have been 419 confirmed coronavirus patients in hospital wards since Tuesday, compared to 536 two weeks earlier, a decline of nearly 22%.
Times staff writer Laura Nelson contributed to this report.
