COVID-19 Cases Continue Downward Trend In Orange County

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Orange County's COVID-19 test positivity rates have shown a significant decline over the last week, but hospitalizations have been creeping back up, according to figures released Wednesday by the Orange County Health Care Agency.

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 increased from 203 as of Saturday to 213 as of Tuesday, with the number of patients in intensive care dropping from 36 to 31, according to the latest figures available.

The county had 22% of its ICU beds available, above the level of 20% when officials grow concerned.

Of the patients hospitalized with the virus, 69.2% are incompletely vaccinated or unvaccinated. The rate is 70% for the ICU patients.

"The Orange County numbers are looking good," Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist and UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, told City News Service last Friday. "The deaths are slowing down and the testing positive percentage."

Noymer said Friday he hoped the test positivity rate would drop below 10, and it has.

The county's test positivity rate dropped from 11.2% Thursday to 9.8% as of Monday, and dropped from 12.9% to 11.6% in the health equity quartile, which measures the communities hardest hit by the pandemic, according to the agency.

The county logged 901 more infections from Friday through Monday, raising the cumulative figure since the pandemic began to 661,016. The OCHCA also reported eight additional deaths linked to the virus Tuesday, raising its cumulative death toll to 7,365.

Of those fatalities, five occurred in August, increasing last month's death toll to 70. One occurred in July, increasing that month's death toll to 119. Two others happened in June, increasing that month's death toll to 56.

The last month the count had more than 100 deaths was in February when 347 died.

The OCHCA provides regular COVID updates on Tuesdays and Fridays.