Orange County Reports 152 New COVID-19 Cases, No Fatalities
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — Orange County Health Care Agency officials reported 152 more COVID-19 diagnoses and new no fatalities Monday.
The new cases brought the cumulative total to 58,725 and the death toll remained at 1,447.
The relatively high number of daily cases continues to jeopardize the county's chance to move into the less-restrictive orange tier of the state's re-opening road-map.
County officials have said the daily average would have to come down to about 130 for Orange County to move from the red to the orange tier.
The number of hospitalizations rose from 150 Sunday to 162 Monday and the number of people in intensive care units increased from 55 to 59.
The change in the three-day average of hospitalized patients went from -7.6% to -6.5%. The county has 32% of its intensive care unit beds and 70% of its ventilators available.
Of the 58,725 cases, there have been 52,402 documented recoveries. To date, 1,066,848 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including 5,498 reported Monday.
The county's positivity rate, which is reported each Tuesday, has remained at 3.2% for the last two weeks, and the daily case rate per 100,000 population also remained at 4.6. That leaves the county close to moving up from the red to the orange tier in the state's four-tier monitoring system.
Under the orange tier, retail businesses could operate at full capacity, instead of 50% as required in the red tier. Shopping malls could also operate at full capacity, but with closed common areas and reduced food courts.
Orange County officials expect to remain in the red tier this week, OC CEO Frank Kim said.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
