Orange County Reports 5,953 New COVID-19 Cases Over Past 2 Days, Continues To Set Records For Hospitalizations

SANTA ANA (CBSLA) -- Orange County health officials reported 5,953 new coronavirus cases and 63 additional deaths over the past two days.

There were no coronavirus updates on Friday, due to the Christmas holiday, but the county's Health Care Agency shared the breakdown of numbers at 3,196 cases and 41 deaths for Friday, and 2,757 cases and 22 deaths for Saturday.

To date, the countywide totals are now 144,263 coronavirus cases and 1,845 fatalities since the pandemic began.

The county continues to set records for COVID-19 hospitalizations, with an increase to 1,957 patients on Saturday. Of those, 432 of those patients were in intensive care.

Orange County's state-adjusted ICU bed availability remained at zero on Saturday, and the unadjusted figure dropped to 5.7%, down from 7.9% as of Thursday. The adjusted metric accounts for the difference in beds available for coronavirus and non-COVID patients.

Officials said that an adjusted ICU rate of zero does not mean there are no beds available and that residents are still urged to call 911 if they are experiencing a medical emergency.

The resources listed below can provide information about the pandemic and best practices for staying safe:

• Orange County residents with general questions can call the COVID-19 HOTLINE at 714-834-2000
• Orange County residents with medical questions can call the Health Referral Line at 800-564-8448
• Orange County Health Care Agency: https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc
• California Department of Public Health: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/ncov2019.aspx
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019- ncov/index.html Spanish https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index-sp.html
• World Health Organization (WHO): https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

In:
• COVID-19
• Orange County