95% of COVID patients hospitalized in Orange County are unvaccinated, OC health officials say

ORANGE COUNTY (KABC) – Orange County health officials say more than 95% of people currently hospitalized with the virus in the county are not vaccinated.

The latest figures show around 140 COVID-19 patients hospitalized – including around 60 in intensive care.

The last time there were so many intensive care patients in the county was in mid-March.

On Monday, the case rate per 100,000 population was 4.9 and the test positivity rate was 3.3%, with a rate of 3.4% for residents in the lower health equity quartile, who measures the rate among disadvantaged residents of neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic. .

As of Tuesday, the county’s average daily rate of new cases per 100,000 population fell from 1.5 the previous week to 2.6, while the overall test positivity rate fell from 1.2% to 1.8 %. The county’s health equity quartile rate fell from 1.4% to 1.9%.

MORE | Unvaccinated account for all COVID hospitalizations in LA County

The county has also reported two new deaths from COVID-19 since last week, bringing the cumulative total to 5,135. One death occurred in April and the other in January.

The death toll for this month is one so far. The death toll for June is 14; 22 for May; 43 for April; 198 for March; 610 for February; 1,563 for January, the deadliest month of the pandemic to date; and 967 for December, the next deadliest.

“The hope is that we don’t see much more acceleration in the pace of COVID than we were seeing before vaccines became widely available,” Orange County CEO Fran Kim told City News Service. with a positivity rate of 19.7% … We hope not to see these types of numbers again. ”

The high number of unvaccinated patients is “hopefully a reminder to the public that when they research the risk of COVID they would ask questions, be educated and consider the voluntary vaccine,” Kim said.

Orange County officials have not discussed any sort of new mask order, he said.

MORE | How many people in your area are reluctant to get vaccinated?

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City News Service contributed to this report.