OC Keeps On Mostly Encouraging Path For COVID-19 Statistics
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — Orange County reported just 87 new COVID-19 cases Friday while stating hospitalization numbers are remaining relatively stable.
Meanwhile Friday, the county reported an additional 16 COVID-19 deaths. The numbers brought the county's total caseload to 251,698 since the pandemic began and the death toll to 4,826.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus inched up from 113 Thursday to 114 on Friday, with the number of intensive care unit patients increasing from 28 to 32.
Orange County CEO Frank Kim said Wednesday that the overall trends continue to be encouraging.
"When you get such low (case) rates, a small outbreak in a school or some other place can really jostle the numbers," he said of any fluctuation.
On Tuesday, the state's weekly COVID update showed the county's test positivity rate improved from 1.7% to 1.6%, while the adjusted case rate per 100,000 people on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag increased from 2.8 to 3.
The county's Health Equity Quartile rate improved from 2.6% to 2.1%.
The county's positivity rates qualify for the least restrictive yellow tier of the state's four-tier system for reopening the economy, but the case counts are still in the orange tier.
As of Friday, the county had administered 1.8 million COVID vaccine doses to residents, Kim said.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)