OC Healthcare Website Update, Blitz To Educate Hardest Hit Cities

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —Orange County Health Care Agency has planned a new website and marketing campaign to "blitz the county" and educate county residents about coronavirus pandemic and the disease COVID-19 that has resulted in over 300 deaths.

The 2 p.m. Friday launch date was delayed, according to a spokesperson, and still the new website was not released as of 4:30 p.m. Friday.

CEO Frank Kim and Dr. Clayton Chau, the Health Care Agency's director and interim chief health officer, unveiled details of the new county website launching Friday. A $600,000 advertising blitz is aimed at the epicenter of the virus spread, residents in Santa Ana and Anaheim, to educate them about the virus.

When Chau was hired recently, he noticed the rising cases in Santa Ana and Anaheim and set out to meet with officials in those cities to discuss ways to tackle the problem.

The newly redesigned website, which includes data by ZIP code in the county, is a product of those discussions, Kim said.

The two emphasized that residents should not be quick to draw too many conclusions about the caseloads in various areas of the county.

"It doesn't mean you're safer or at greater risk," Chau said.

Santa Ana and Anaheim lend themselves in part to higher caseloads because of their density and concentration of extended families living together.

Many immigrants distrust of government out of deportation fears being deported if they seek help, the two said.

County officials are steering residents toward community clinics because there is a level of trust for many immigrants who receive medical aid under the CalOptima insurance program for the area's needy.

Some residents who cannot physically distance from their relatives and roommates have been placed in hotels by the county to recuperate and quarantine, Kim said.

County officials are working on contracting with another hotel to do more of that as they have under the Project Room Key that sets aside hotel rooms for transients who get infected.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.