Orange County Reports 183 New COVID-19 Cases, Adjusts Death Toll Down By 1
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) -- Orange County reported another 183 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the cumulative case total to 60,298.
The death toll was adjusted downward by one, bringing it to 1,483.
The rate of deaths has been decreasing over the past few weeks. From Oct. 25 through Saturday, there were 39 deaths reported, up from 35 the week before, but lower than 69 the previous week.
The number of virus-related hospitalizations jumped from 181 on Sunday to 183 on Monday. The number of ICU patients also increased from 55 to 60.
The county's positivity rate, which is reported each Tuesday, has been at 3.2% for the past three weeks. However, the daily case rate per 100,000 residents increased this week to 5.1.
Officials have been aiming for a daily case rate of about 130 new cases per day to allow Orange County to move to the orange tier of the state's COVID-19 roadmap to reopening.
But, if cases continue to rise too much, the county could slip back to the purple tier.
"Not this Tuesday, but I do think there is a risk two weeks from now'' that the county could slip back into the purple tier, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said Friday. "There's a trend of increasing cases in Southern California. It's a concern for all of us because we're going to move as a region.''
He noted that officials have not seen a corresponding increase in hospitalization and ICU occupancy rates, which may indicate that cases are rising among young people, who tend to have better outcomes.
"So how do you get these young people 18 to 24 to test at a higher quantity?'' Kim said. "I want to be like San Francisco. I want to be a massive tester. If you're asymptomatic, we can't identify you and get you moved away from your family and friends and get you isolated and treated.''
The county is also eyeing a number of ways to reach out to young adults to get tested.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
