OC Looks To Hospitals For Trustworthy Data As 44 More Die

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — The Orange County Health Care Agency has reported 44 COVID-19 fatalities in the past two days, raising the coronavirus death toll to 697.

The number of patients being treated for COVID-19 and related illness in county hospitals dropped from 539 Tuesday to 536 Wednesday and 517 on Thursday. The while the number of patients in intensive care inched up from 167 Tuesday to 172 Wednesday and 171 Thursday, according to the agency.

Though OC Health Care reported 65 new diagnoses of coronavirus Wednesday, a low total for the day, and likely a "false number," according to Orange County's CEO Frank Kim. A large "glitch" California has experienced in reporting positive tests from laboratories.

"There's no way our numbers would drop that fast," Kim said. "Out of 5,000 new tests, that's incredibly low."

On Thursday, the county reported 580 more cases, and an additional 3,330 tests reported for the day.

If you want coronavirus facts for the county, look to the hospitals.

Hospitalization statistics are more reliable because the hospitals use a different online software platform to report to the state, Kim noted. State officials have directed laboratories to send manual copies of test results as a backup until the software glitch is corrected, he said.

A total of 48 deaths have been reported in Orange County since Sunday.

The county logged 87 coronavirus deaths last week and 70 the week prior.

Of the fatalities reported Wednesday, three were skilled nursing facility residents and two were assisted living facility residents.

Of the county's total deaths, 274 were skilled nursing facility residents, 30 lived in assisted living facilities, and one was homeless.

Of the total cases, 1,728 were skilled nursing facility residents, 489 were jail inmates and 137 were homeless.

The county on Tuesday reported 65 jail inmates in medical isolation and 416 documented recoveries among 481 prisoners infected since the pandemic began. Officials are awaiting results of 94 tests.

Orange County is on the state's watch list for counties experiencing high rates of new cases and hospitalizations. It has shown some improvement of late.

The county's case rate per 100,000 residents decreased from 115 to 97.6, which is still far higher than the California Department of Public Health threshold of 25 per 100,000 residents.

The rate of residents testing positive for COVID-19 dipped from 8.6 percent to 8.1 percent, just above the state's desired rate of 8 percent. Those numbers may be deceiving given the issue with reporting statistics to the state.

The change in the three-day average of hospitalized patients went from -4.8% to -3.7%, much lower than the state's threshold of 10% increase.

Available ICU beds are at 34%, and the percentage of available ventilators at 54%. The state's threshold is 20% of ICU beds available to handle a surge and 25% ventilators on hand.

The county reported that 444,757 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including 5,075 logged on Wednesday.

Since the pandemic began, Orange County estimates 27,197 residents have since recovered from the virus.

County coronavirus cases by city, as of Thursday:

• Aliso Viejo - 280 Total Cases
• Anaheim - 6615 Total Cases
• Brea - 357 Total Cases
• Buena Park - 1083 Total Cases
• Costa Mesa - 1266 Total Cases
• Coto de Caza - 28 Total Cases
• Cypress - 426 Total Cases
• Dana Point - 189 Total Cases
• Fountain Valley - 370 Total Cases
• Fullerton - 1758 Total Cases
• Garden Grove - 2077 Total Cases
• Huntington Beach - 1740 Total Cases
• Irvine - 1212 Total Cases
• La Habra - 932 Total Cases
• La Palma - 121 Total Cases
• Ladera Ranch - 120 Total Cases
• Laguna Beach - 138 Total Cases
• Laguna Hills - 225 Total Cases
• Laguna Niguel - 293 Total Cases
• Laguna Woods - 43 Total Cases
• Lake Forest - 626 Total Cases
• Los Alamitos - 155 Total Cases
• Midway City - 77 Total Cases
• Mission Viejo - 598 Total Cases
• Newport Beach - 902 Total Cases
• Orange - 1779 Total Cases
• Placentia - 691 Total Cases
• Rancho Mission Viejo - 46 Total Cases
• Rancho Santa Margarita - 250 Total Cases
• Rossmoor - 29 Total Cases
• San Clemente - 334 Total Cases
• San Juan Capistrano - 286 Total Cases
• Santa Ana - 7390 Total Cases
• Seal Beach - 221 Total Cases
• Silverado - 39 Total Cases
• Stanton - 476 Total Cases
• Trabuco Canyon - 154 Total Cases
• Tustin - 917 Total Cases
• Villa Park - 41 Total Cases
• Westminster - 695 Total Cases
• Yorba Linda - 510 Total Cases

As local school officials prepare for classes to begin again, county officials are tabulating the number of coronavirus cases by various age groups.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 365 children up to age 3 who have been infected in the county; 463 in the 4-to-9-year-old age group; 365 from 10 to 12 years old; 342 among 13 to 14-year-olds; and 1,257 in the 15-to- 18-year-old age group.

The state has released updated guidance for youth sports activities, allowing activities to resume, but with participants adhering to physical distancing and safety protocols. Participants must stay six feet from each other and activities must take place outdoors as much as possible.

Tournaments, events and games indoors that require close contact among participants are not allowed at this stage for California's reopening.

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

Full coronavirus coverage: Coronavirus In California: What To Know

Don't miss updates about the coronavirus in California as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.