OC Reports 12 Additional Deaths, 65 New Cases Saying Low Number Due To State's Reporting Glitch
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — Orange County health officials reported 12 additional coronavirus-related deaths and 65 more cases Wednesday.
To date, the county's totals now stand at 38,131 coronavirus cases and 665 deaths.
According to Orange County County Executive Officer Frank Kim, the low number of cases is undoubtedly due to the state's recent glitch in reporting positive tests from laboratories.
"There's no way our numbers would drop that fast," Kim said. "Out of 5,000 new tests, that's incredibly low."
State officials have directed laboratories to send manual copies of test results as a backup until the software glitch is corrected, he said.
Sixteen deaths have been reported in Orange County since Sunday. The county logged 87 coronavirus deaths last week and 70 the week prior.
Of the fatalities reported Wednesday, three were skilled nursing facility residents and two were assisted living facility residents.
Currently, 536 confirmed coronavirus patients in Orange County are hospitalized, down from the 539 hospitalizations reported Tuesday.
Of those hospitalized patients, 167 are in the intensive care unit, according to the latest numbers.
The county's case rate per 100,000 residents decreased from 115 to 97.6, which is still far higher than the California Department of Public Health threshold of 25 per 100,000 residents.
Out of the 38,131 positive cases in the county, officials have reported 27,197 documented recoveries. To date, the county has reported 444,757 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, with 5,075 reported Wednesday.
The rate of residents testing positive for COVID-19 dipped from 8.6% to 8.1%, just above the state's desired rate of 8%. Those numbers also may be deceiving given the issue with reporting statistics to the state.
On Tuesday, the state released updated guidance for youth sports activities, allowing activities to resume with physical distancing and safety protocols.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)