OC Health Officials Report 7 Additional Deaths Bringing Total Over 700
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — Orange County health officials reported seven additional COVID-19 fatalities Friday hiking the death toll to 704.
The county also announced 43 new diagnoses of coronavirus
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.
Of Friday's reported deaths, one was a skilled nursing facility resident and two were assisted living facility residents.
Since the start of the pandemic, 280 skilled nursing facility residents have died of COVID-19 in Orange County and 35 assisted living facility residents have succumbed to the virus.
On Thursday, the county reported 32 deaths -- the highest number reported on a single day since the pandemic began.
Those deaths were said to have happened over the past couple of weeks but tend to get clustered together at times because the reports come from many different sources.
Currently, 511 confirmed coronavirus patients in Orange County are hospitalized, down from the 517 hospitalizations reported Thursday.
Of those hospitalized patients, 177 are in the intensive care unit, according to the latest numbers.
The rate of residents testing positive for COVID-19 in the county has inched up from 8%, which is the state's desired rate of 8%, to 8.1%.
And its case rate per 100,000 residents increased from 97.9 to 103.8, which is far higher than the California Department of Public Health threshold of 25 per 100,000 residents.
The county reported that 452,608 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including 4,521 logged on Friday. There have been 29,009 documented recoveries.
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.)