Orange County's Hospitalizations Fall, ICU Patients Increase

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Orange County hospitalizations fluctuated Tuesday, with a slight decrease in coronavirus positive patients, officials say. Still, the number of patients in intensive care was up, according to Orange County Health Care Agency reports.

Orange County's hospitalized population dropped to 1,197 Tuesday, though 199 patients are suffering from COVID-19 in Orange County's intensive care units.

The county's percentage of available ICU beds fell to 16.5 percent and the percentage of available ventilators has fallen to 62 percent.

Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, the county's deputy health officer, has said that officials grow concerned when the percentage of ICU beds available drops below 20 percent.

Of those hospitalized, 86 percent are unvaccinated, and 87 percent of the ICU patients are also not fully vaccinated.

Hospitalizations have not been this high since Feb. 4 when there were 1,233 COVID-19 patients in the county. The last time ICU levels were this high for the virus was Feb. 19, when there were 219 ICU patients.

However, local hospital officials have not been complaining as much of late about a crush of residents besieging emergency rooms and urgent care facilities for COVID-19 tests after officials urged residents to avoid the heavily taxed system unless they have serious symptoms, according to Chinsio-Kwong.

Approximately one-third of patients coming to the county's emergency rooms are specifically complaining of COVID-19, Chinsio-Kwong said.

Some patients admitted for non-COVID illnesses have their symptoms exacerbated by the virus, she said. Coronavirus exacerbates other symptoms, she says.

The average drop-off time for patients was at 41 minutes and 25 seconds, with the seven-day average at 43 minutes and 22 seconds.

The county also reported 24,639 new positive COVID-19 tests Tuesday over the past four days, raising the cumulative total since the pandemic started to 455,314.

The county logged 17 more fatalities since last week, upping the cumulative death toll to 5,938.

No coronavirus statistics were uploaded Monday due to the Martin Luther King Day holiday.

Three of the dead were skilled nursing facility residents, raising the death toll to 1,225 in that category. The death toll for assisted living facility residents stands at 647.

The county has COVID-19 outbreaks at 42 elderly assisted living facilities and 30 skilled nursing facilities, according to the OCHCA.

Of the deaths logged Tuesday, six occurred in January, boosting this month's death toll to 10. Eleven of the fatalities occurred last month, raising December's death toll to 76.
November's death toll stands at 103, October's at 127, September's at 196 and August's at 182.

In contrast, the death toll before the Delta variant fueled a summer surge was 31 in July, 19 in June, 26 in May, 47 in April, 202 in March and 620 for February.

January 2021 remains the deadliest month of the pandemic, with a death toll of 1,598, ahead of December 2020, the next deadliest with 985 people lost to the virus.

The county's adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 residents ballooned from 108 Friday to 208.9 Tuesday. The testing positivity rate inched up from 27.5 percent to 27.9 percent and increased from 31% to 32% in the health equity quartile, which measures underserved communities hardest hit by the pandemic.

"We have to be realistic," Chinsio-Kwong said. "We're all going to be exposed to Omicron at some point ... so it's important to take precautions."

The number of fully vaccinated residents in Orange County reached 2,357,761, according to data released last Thursday.

That number includes an increase from 2,189,337 the previous week to 2,205,067 of residents who have received the two-dose regimen of vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna.

The number of residents receiving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine increased from 152,225 to 152,694.

Booster shots increased from 900,815 to 975,937.

In the relatively recently eligible age group of 5 to 11 years old, the number of children vaccinated increased from 46,791 to 52,803 versus 215,777 who have not gotten jabbed. It's the least vaccinated age group in Orange County. The next-worst vaccinated age group is 25 to 34, with 314,619 inoculated and 144,782 who have not gotten a shot.

In the 5 to 11 age group, 28 percent have received at least one dose, according to Chinsio-Kwong.

For parents still worried about side-effects of vaccines for their children, Chinsio-Kwong pointed to a recent study showing that two doses of Pfizer "significantly reduced (multi-inflammatory syndrome following a COVID- 19 infection) by 91% versus those not vaccinated."

Another study showed that children are 2 1/2 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes following a COVID-19 infection if unvaccinated, she said.

The most vaccinated age group is seniors at 92 percent, Chinsio-Kwong said.

Chinsio-Kwong warned residents away from large-indoor gatherings for Lunar New Year, which occurs on Feb. 1.

"If you choose to gather it should be small and as much as possible try to have it outdoors and with people more up-to-date on vaccines," Chinsio- Kwong said.

"If you're going to eat with others then maintain a distance when not wearing a mask ... I wouldn't encourage people from different households to gather indoors."