SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS) — Orange County's weekly averages for COVID-19 cases ticked up this week, but hospitalization numbers remained low, data released Tuesday shows.

According to weekly state data released every Tuesday, the county's average daily new case rate per 100,000 residents edged up from 0.9 last week to 1, while the overall test positivity rate ticked up from 0.7% to 0.9%.

The county's Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hot spots in disadvantaged communities, climbed from 0.7% last week to 1.1% this week.

Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, said the slight increases were expected.

"It's been two weeks since everything opened up ...," Noymer said. "There was always going to be a small increase when we lifted restrictions."

Noymer is predicting more significant increases in the fall, when lower temperatures compel more indoor activity and students return to classes.

Noymer was critical of Los Angeles County's recommendation that vaccinated residents return to masking up when indoors in public places.

"The American public has no appetite for masking indefinitely," Noymer said. "That's just not going to fly. We need to keep our powder dry for the fall or winter and let people have the summer off, which is why I don't understand what L.A. County is doing. They're telegraphing that the vaccines don't work, which is wrong, they do work.

"They're telegraphing they don't work against Delta, which is wrong, because they do work. I am frankly perplexed by their announcement. I understand it from the standpoint of an abundance of caution, but I really don't like being so cautious right now during the summertime and I don't think the epidemiological situation warrants it. If things go crazy, then I'll be the first to say `put the mask on."'

Telling the vaccinated to go back to wearing masks indoors is taking away the incentive to get shots, Noymer said.

"You're not giving people the right incentive structure," he said. "If you tell them if you can vaccinate you can take off your mask, that's a carrot. What they're offering instead is the stick."

The Orange County Health Care Agency on Tuesday reported 44 new COVID- 19 infections, pushing the cumulative total to 256,266.

Hospitalizations inched up from 51 on Monday to 56 on Tuesday, while the number of intensive care unit patients decreased from 11 to 10.

The HCA also logged two more fatalities, but they happened in February. One of the fatalities was an assisted living facility resident, increasing the number of dead in that category to 601.

The overall death toll is 5,120 for the county.

The death toll now stands at six for June; 22 for May; 42 for April; 198 for March; 610 for February; 1,559 for January, the deadliest month of the pandemic; and 966 for December, the next deadliest.

The county no longer posts COVID-19 data on the weekends, and starting Thursday, will begin posting data weekly.

As of last week, the county had 1,734,537 fully vaccinated residents. Of those, 1,621,711 received both doses and 264,074 had received one shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, which require two doses. Another 112,826 people received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The county on Tuesday reported 5,346 tests, increasing the cumulative tally to 4,110,483.

The county's weekly average of tests per 100,000 residents fell from 198.6 to 175.2.