Orange County cases
As of Aug. 7, the Orange County Health Care Agency, the lead agency for coronavirus in our region, is tracking 38,754 cases.
There were 2,558 new cases recorded across the county in the past seven days.
Cases are believed to be underreported with a statewide lag in collecting of data from labs in the past two weeks, according to OC Health.
The seven-day average of new cases reported as of July 24 is 320.
The trend has declined with fluctuations since July 11, when the seven-day average was 807.
Among cases, there are 1,769 cases reported in skilled nursing facilities, 489 cases among jail inmates and 144 among the county's homeless population.
The county's estimate of those who have recovered from COVID-19, the condition caused by coronavirus, is at 29,009 people.
Orange County has seen 704 deaths -- the first of which was reported March 24 -- from complications of COVID-19.
A little less than half of those were patients at skilled nursing facilities.
While any loss of life is tragic, Orange County's death rate is relatively low at 1.8 percent.
The county now is at 452,608 PCR tests completed.
A PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, test is a swab sample that confirms if a person has a current infection.
Tests are current up to Aug. 6.
Orange County is currently on the state's monitoring list, which means that the state tracks several key indicators of how we are faring with the outbreak: 14-day case rate, seven-day positivity rate, hospitalizations and hospital capacity.
These factors determine whether the county remains on the monitoring list, which comes with additional restrictions.
Read more about state data monitoring here.
Here's where we stand as of Aug. 7:
Orange County's 14-day case rate is at 103.8 per 100,000 residents.
This is calculated by taking new cases in the past 14 days, with a three-day lag, dividing that number by our population and then multiplying it by 100,000.
The rate must be below 25 for our county to be removed from the monitoring list.
The county's seven-day positivity rate, tracked with a seven-day lag, is 8.1 percent.
The state threshold for positivity rate is 8 percent.
Though it does not factor into our position on the monitoring list, it's interesting to note that the county's running total of 38,754 cases compared with total tests represents an 8.6 percent ongoing positivity rate.
Hospitalizations according to the most recent data as of Aug. 6:
- Patients in hospitals: 511
- Patients in intensive care: 177
Orange County's percent change in the average number of hospitalized patients in the past three days stands at -5.1.
A negative percentage means that the average number of patients in our hospitals has decreased.
To be removed from the monitoring list, the average number of patients hospitalized in a county cannot increase more than 10 percent in a three-day period.
Orange County's hospital capacity as of Aug. 7:
- Percentage of ICU beds available: 34
- Percentage of ventilators available: 64
To be removed from the monitoring list, counties must have 25 percent of ventilators available and 20 percent of ICU beds available.
While Orange County is meeting most state criteria, we must meet all of these measurements for 14 consecutive days in order to get off the state's monitoring list. Then to ease restrictions, we must remain off the list for three consecutive days.
|