The winter coronavirus outbreak is here; Orange County sinks deep into the strictest purple level – Orange County Register

Orange County has an unwelcome visitor for the holidays: another wave of coronavirus that may soon equal that of summer.

The rate of new coronavirus cases in the county has tripled in the past two weeks in a build-up that public health officials suspect is fueled by “COVID fatigue.” And this is happening at the confluence of the flu season and the end of the year celebrations.

Governor Gavin Newsom already put in place a public health “emergency brake” in the state last week, placing Orange County and most others in California in the most restrictive purple level in the state surveillance, forcing many businesses and public sectors – restaurants, gyms, places of worship – to go out yet again.

But there has been no slowdown in the slide into troubled territory: Orange County now sees around 17 new cases of the virus per day per 100,000 population – up from a rate of 10.8 last week and well above a rate of 5.6 two weeks ago.

The share of swab tests returning positive – the test positivity rate – also rose sharply to 6.8% in updated statistics released by the state’s public health department on Tuesday, November 24. Positivity tests were 4.6% last week.

On July 9, at the height of the summer surge, Orange County’s case rate peaked at around 27 cases per 100,000, and within a week, positivity tests reached 12.7%.

“It’s just kind of an inevitable downturn,” said Andrew Noymer, epidemiologist and professor of public health at UC Irvine. “At the county level, it’s a bit difficult to say exactly where the peak will be.”

Level assignments and measures, which state officials had released every Tuesday since the introduction of the four-tier system at the end of August, will be announced at least once a week in the future, officials said.

Most recently, Orange County performed an average of 354 tests per day per 100,000 population, exceeding the state average of 272 tests per 100,000 population.

The county is home to two testing “super-sites”, in Anaheim and Costa Mesa. Together, the two dab about 6,000 nostrils a day, said Tim Shirata, director of strategy at 360 Clinic, which manages the sites. Most patients get their swab test results back in two or three days, he said, and the tests are free to everyone, whether or not they have health insurance.

Shirata said 360 Clinic is hiring up to 400 workers to meet the growing demand for testing – he would particularly like to hire people who may have been made redundant in the local hospitality industry. The drive-thru line to the fairground on Tuesday morning took about 15 minutes to pass, he said.

“As you know, there has been an increase in the coronavirus, and with the holidays approaching like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we anticipate there will be a lot more testing,” Shirata said.

County leaders this week launched free do-it-yourself saliva test kits available to residents of Anaheim and Santa Ana first – where virus hot spots are still being addressed – in another effort to make generalized testing faster and easier.

Dr Clayton Chau, director of the OC Health Care Agency and county health official, said local drivers of recent new cases included Halloween parties, voting during elections and other reasons why people congregate, even in relatively small groups.

“We’re really in the middle of a wave here in California,” Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of State for Health and Human Services, said at a press conference Tuesday. “The cases are of concern in part because they really foreshadow what the impact will be on our hospitals.”

As you might expect, the sickest residents of the past month end up being hospitalized; Ghaly said that in general, around 12% of patients with COVID-19 need to be hospitalized two to three weeks after infection.

Coronavirus hospitalizations at the 33 hospitals in Orange County tripled over the past month to 463 people on Tuesday.

“Statewide, I don’t think we’ve ever seen as many hospitalizations … as we have in the past 24 hours, and I hope, but don’t expect, that it will be the most. high that we’ve ever had ”. Ghaly said.

Orange County emergency rooms are better prepared for the expected flood of coronavirus patients than they were earlier in the pandemic, hospital officials said, as they made their evidence of surge plans and equipment inventory.

Recent reports from the Health Care Agency have shown a stable overall bed occupancy in county hospitals, despite the increase in the number of coronavirus patients, indicating that hospitals are adding and subtracting beds – and staff – if needed.

Nursing homes and other group living centers, which were caught off guard at the start of the pandemic, have also adapted to protect residents and have not seen a large increase in cases compared to the summer.