Orange County COVID-19 Hospitalizations Climb; Officials Continue To Urge Residents To Avoid Holiday Gatherings
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) -- Orange County COVID-19 numbers continue to climb, and officials are still urging residents not to travel or socialize over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Another 837 cases were announced on Tuesday, raising the cumulative total to 71,953. Two more virus-related fatalities were also reported, bringing the death toll to 1,556.
The county's case rate per 100,000 residents also jumped from 10.8 last week to 17.2 this week. The case positivity rate grew from 4.6% to 6.8%.
"The main message I want to share is it's all around us and the spread of the virus within Southern California counties is significant. It's going to take awhile for us to identify and isolate all those individuals infected,'' Orange County CEO Frank Kim said. "It's going to take several weeks to ensure those people
don't end up in hospitals.''
Kim said he was a "bit surprised" that the rising hospitalizations hadn't yet resulted in a climbing number of ICU patients, but he said that since ICU numbers and fatalities are often lagging indicators it is hard to predict what will happen to hospitalized patients.
Hospitalizations increased from 428 on Monday to 463 on Tuesday. The number of patients in the ICU also rose from 105 to 116.
Kim, who is himself recovering from COVID-19, said it is the most difficult illness he has ever had to cope with.
"Every day you wake up feeling worse or the same and you start to lose your positive mojo,'' Kim said. "With any other flu I've ever had, after a few days you start to feel better.''
County officials also continued to stress that they ask all residents to limit travel and gatherings during Thanksgiving and, if you do travel, get tested before and after any social events.
If residents insist on a Thanksgiving gathering, they should consider an outdoor gathering and limit the number of people in attendance, Kim said.
"If you're going to get together anyway, there's a value in getting tested,'' Kim said. "It's a snapshot in time of how you're doing, but you can't get yourself tested and then run 20 different errands and show up to Thanksgiving. It defeats the whole purpose of how you're managing all that, but the concept is test yourself more frequently, reduce the amount of activities outside your stable cohorts and after an event -- if you're going to have one -- it wouldn't be harmful to get a second test... But, obviously, the safest thing is to stay at home.''
Kim and other officials debated the reasons for rising case numbers. Kim mentioned he doesn't think outdoor dining is to blame.
"I think it's pointless,'' he said of canceling outdoor dining at restaurants. "I think it makes more sense that people are armed with good information and exercising responsible behavior, and the vast majority of people are.''
Kim added that "the fear is that if you clamp down too hard, they'll be so upset that will they even at that point tune out and not even respond to the good information. It's a delicate balance. It's a conversation I have with my peers regularly. There's a line you have to follow and people will support you and understand, but... once they believe it's less based on science and it's straying into politics, they'll be less likely to follow the good advice.''
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)