Orange County's COVID Patients Level Off, 84 Remain In ICU

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —A total of 13 more people in intensive care units since Friday, health officials said, noting that overall hospitalizations have leveled off, Monday.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Orange County decreased to 453 on Monday, though the intensive care unit number increased to 84.

Hospitalizations remain the most important metric, according to public health experts. Coronavirus infection rates could be driven by higher demand in testing or breakthrough infections of vaccinated people who usually experience little to no symptoms.

Coronavirus statistics are reported Mondays through Fridays, with the weekends free from updates.

The last time the county had this many COVID-19 patients in ICU was March 7. The last time hospitalizations were this was high was Feb. 25, according to OC Health Care statistics.

The county has 24.6% of its ICU beds available and 72% of its ventilators.

On Monday, the case rate per 100,000 was at 18.4, according to Orange County CEO Frank Kim. The test positivity number was 8.3 percent and the test positivity for the health equity quartile, which measures the disadvantaged communities hardest hit by the pandemic, was at 8.5 percent, Kim said.

The next weekly average will be released on Tuesday. As of one week ago, the county's average daily case rate per 100,000 residents increased from 8 to 12.7, and the test positivity rate jumped from 4.9% to 6.9%.

The county's Health Equity Quartile rate increased from 4.4% to 6.6%.

With the advent of the new delta variant, more residents are getting tested once again. Not since May has this many people going for coronavirus testing.

"Testing volume has been getting more robust," Kim said, adding it was at 284 per 100,000 residents.

The county on Monday reported 28,210 tests, which would account for tests logged through the weekend. The higher demand for COVID-19 testing are likely driven by requirements from the state and employers, Kim said.

Who is wearing masks in Orange County?

While out in the county this weekend, Kim said he saw about 80% of shoppers masking up.

Many students are returning to classes this week, and will be required by the state to wear masks while indoors.

Kim said he does not believe that will fuel the case rates.

"I don't think it will make a significant difference," Kim said. "When I look at the parks, at retail stores, kids are already interacting with each other, so going to a school setting I don't know how it's different than anything else that's occurring."

Kim said he hopes more parents get vaccinated because children younger than 12 are not yet eligible to get inoculated.

The rates of children hospitalized for COVID-19 are "still quite low," but they are increasing, Kim said.

The surge of infections does have Kim concerned, he said.

"We spent a significant amount of resources and time working with various community groups to ensure that those who wanted to accept the voluntary vaccine had access to do so," Kim said. "And when you see that over 90% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated it's frustrating. Our job is public health and to ensure people remain as healthy as they can."

The county on Monday reported 2,181 new infections, which account for figures logged on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, raising the cumulative to 271,197.

The county logged two more COVID-19 fatalities, which occurred on July 27 and July 28. That raised the month's death toll to 11.
The death toll for June is 15; 22 for May; 43 for April; 199 for March; 612 for February; 1,563 for January -- the deadliest month of the pandemic -- and 968 for December, the next deadliest.

The cumulative Orange County death toll is 5,150.

Last week Sen. Tom Umberg sponsored a vaccination clinic in Anaheim. The clinic, held at Ponderosa Park in Anaheim on Thursday, August 5th and was co-sponsored by State Senators Tom Umberg and Josh Newman, Congressmember Lou Correa, State Assemblymembers Tom Daly and Sharon Quirk Silva, Anaheim Councilmember Avelino Valencia, the Orange County Employees Association (OCEA), and Albertson’s.

“To my knowledge, this clinic was unique in its number of elected officials co-sponsoring from all levels of government,” said Senator Umberg. “It’s a true testament to the importance of vaccination amidst our re-increasing rates of COVID that our offices were all able to partner together so quickly and efficiently for this kind of event.”

The county's vaccination rates "are very good in terms of statewide or national comparisons, but as a staff, we had a mission to get above 80% and we haven't reached that point yet," Kim said.

The county will continue using its mobile pods to reach "any pockets in Orange County" where there are disadvantaged neighborhoods of residents or those who just need more information about the shots before accepting one, Kim said.
Orange County supervisors on Tuesday will consider a $4.5 million grant from the state to help the county offer administrative support for community groups who want to host stand-up vaccination clinics, Kim said.

The number of people in Orange County who have received at least one dose of vaccine stood at 1,991,822 as of Thursday, according to the state's database.

The HCA's figures put the number of fully vaccinated Orange County residents at 1,922,696 as of Thursday, up from 1,897,664 last week.

Of Orange County's 3.2 million residents, currently, 1,796,967 are fully vaccinated who received Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, which require two shots, and of those, 125,729 have received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

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