Orange County remains in the orange tier as COVID-19 hospitalizations drop

As Los Angeles County transitioned Tuesday into the final, least restrictive tier of the state’s reopening blueprint a month ahead of an anticipated full reopening of California’s economy in mid-June, Orange County is holding steadfast in the orange tier.

As of Tuesday, data reported by the Orange County Health Care Agency indicate that the daily case count of the coronavirus for every 100,000 residents has dropped to 2.4, but that number does not fall below the threshold of the lower tier in the state’s reopening guidelines. The other metrics that determine movement between tiers — the test positivity rate and the health equity quartile positivity rate — currently qualify the county for yellow at 1.3% and 1.4% respectively.

Counties must log two consecutive weeks of qualifying data for the next tier and stay within their current tier for three weeks in order to move on to the next.

County health officials reported 72 new cases of the virus Tuesday, in addition to nine new deaths from COVID-19, all of which were people not living in a care facility. Fatalities from the disease are close to 5,000 in the county, and area hospitals reported 97 hospitalized patients, with 26 in intensive care units.

Monday marked the first time in months that Orange County fell below 100 hospitalizations, though experts stress there is no “magic number” epidemiologically.

Sunday had 111 hospitalizations, which declined to 95 on Monday and rose to 97 Tuesday.

An estimated 246,783 patients have recovered.

County officials reported last Thursday that since Dec. 13 about 1 million Orange County residents have been fully vaccinated and, on Monday announced that super points-of-dispensing for the vaccines are accepting walk-ins through Saturday.

Here are the latest cumulative coronavirus case counts and COVID-19 deaths for select cities in Orange County:

• Santa Ana: 44,802 cases; 852 deaths
• Anaheim: 41,861 cases; 869 deaths
• Huntington Beach: 10,766 cases; 218 deaths
• Costa Mesa: 9,002 cases; 139 deaths
• Irvine: 10,687 cases; 86 deaths
• Newport Beach: 3,877 cases; 75 deaths
• Fountain Valley: 3,519 cases; 85 deaths
• Laguna Beach: 857 cases; seven deaths

Here are the case counts by age group, followed by deaths:

• 0 to 17: 26,611 cases; one death
• 18 to 24: 35,209 cases; 10 deaths
• 25 to 34: 50,731 cases; 53 deaths
• 35 to 44: 39,496 cases; 108 deaths
• 45 to 54: 40,642 cases; 317 deaths
• 55 to 64: 31,961 cases; 710 deaths
• 65 to 74: 15,826 cases; 960 deaths
• 75 to 84: 8,032 cases; 1,232 deaths
• 85 and older: 5,426 cases; 1,587 deaths

Updated figures are posted daily at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc. For information on getting vaccinated, visit covidvaccinefacts.com.

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