Alpha, Delta Variants Hit OC's Unvaccinated Hard As ICU Beds Fill

ORANGE COUNTY, CA—Another 453 Orange County residents have contracted COVID-19 as of Tuesday as the county's hospitals continue to fill with sick patients. A mere 27 percent of ICU beds remain open in the county as of Tuesday, the Orange County Health Care reported. In the span of one week, the daily case count has almost doubled and the positivity rate has jumped.

The most dominant variants in the county in recent weeks have been the Delta, Alpha and Gamma variants, according to the Health Care Agency. Both Delta and Alpha are considered the most highly contagious, with Delta now considered the most dominant strain statewide.

The number of coronavirus patients currently admitted in county hospitals was 212, up from 194 on Monday, according to the agency.

There were 48 COVID patients in intensive care, unchanged from Monday.

One additional coronavirus death was also reported. Tuesday's figures brought the county's cumulative total to 262,524 cases and 5,140 fatalities since the pandemic began.

According to the latest weekly averages released Tuesday, Orange County's average daily case rate per 100,000 residents increased from 4.9 to 8 in a one-week period, and the test positivity rate jumped from 3.3 to 4.9%%.

Among the county's disadvantaged communities, the Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures the disadvantaged communities hardest hit by the pandemic, increased from 3.4% to 4.4%.

Experts say the current COVID vaccines all provide a high degree of protection against infections and — while they will not prevent all infections — they prevent serious illness and death.

As of Thursday, the county reported that 1,876,853 residents were fully vaccinated. The number of residents who have received Pfizer or Moderna and are fully vaccinated is 1,754,729, and the number of those who received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and are fully vaccinated is 122,124.

The county reported there were 214,245 who have received at least one dose of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

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