COVID Cases Top 1,000 In Orange County; 6 Hospitals In Need Of 100 More Nurses
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — The Omicron-fueled surge of COVID-19 cases have sent cases skyrocketing in Orange County, where more than 1,000 people are hospitalized for the first time since last February.
Hospitalizations in Orange County have swelled from 964 on Monday to 1,013 on Tuesday, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. The number of intensive care unit patients are also up from 140 to 159, and the county reported three new deaths Tuesday.
Hospital officials have expressed concerns about staffing to the county, due to many healthcare workers becoming infected or being exposed and having to isolate. Fountain Valley Hospital had to bring on 25 nurses recently to help out,, using funding from the state, and there have been requests for 100 more nurses from six other OC hospitals in recent days, according to county CEO Frank Kim.
Orange County's adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 jumped from 71.8 on Monday to 108 on Tuesday. The county's testing positivity rate is now at 25.2%, with 5,081 new positive COVID-19 tests on Tuesday alone.
About 600 of the county's 17,000 employees have been infected since mid-December, so the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously mandated that county employees be given 40 more hours of sick leave so they can stay home.
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