Orange County Reports 683 New COVID-19 Cases, 20 Additional Deaths
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — Orange County health officials reported 683 additional COVID-19 cases and 20 more deaths Friday.
To date, the county's totals now stand at 42,854 coronavirus cases and 789 deaths.
Of the fatalities reported Friday, seven were skilled nursing facility residents.
Since the pandemic began, 300 of the victims who died were skilled nursing facility residents, 44 were assisted living facility residents and one was homeless.
Case counts have been up and down since Sunday as officials catch up on the backlog with the state's system, but Orange County officials Thursday reported their statistics are now up to date.
Orange County CEO Frank Kim told reporters at a news conference on Thursday the statistics reported include the backlog of numbers from the state.
"Based on the numbers we see today and the analysis of our team, we do believe we're below the 8% threshold" for the rate of positive tests, Kim said. At the county's peak it was about 14.9%, he said.
"We think we're looking good again, but we can't confirm that until the state posts its monitoring number," he said.
"I'm very confident and optimistic our numbers are close to the state number," said Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Care Agency and the county's interim chief health officer.
Currently, 436 confirmed coronavirus patients in Orange County are hospitalized, down from the 438 hospitalizations reported Thursday.
Of those hospitalized patients, 152 are in the intensive care unit, according to the latest numbers.
The change in the three-day average of hospitalized patients went from 8.8% to 5.9%, which is lower than the state's threshold.
Out of the 42,854 positive cases in the county, officials have reported 33,697 documented recoveries. To date, the county has reported 527,578 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, with 9,513 reported Friday.
As local school officials prepare for classes to begin, county officials are tabulating the number of coronavirus cases by various age groups.
Since the pandemic began, there have been 414 children up to age 3 who have been infected; 570 in the 4-to-9-year-old age group; 438 from 10 to 12 years old; 421 among 13- and 14-year-olds; and 1,477 in the 15-to-18-year-old age group.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)