SANTA ANA (CNS) — Six more people in Orange County have succumbed to COVID-19, raising the death toll to 1,111, Orange County Health Care Agency officials said Wednesday as they also reported 135 new diagnoses of coronavirus, increasing the total to 51,259 since the pandemic began.

So far this week, 18 deaths have been reported since Sunday. Last week, the OCHCA reported 42 COVID-19 fatalities. The week before saw 76 deaths reported.

Hospitalizations in the county ticked up from 201 Tuesday to 202 Wednesday, with the number of intensive care unit patients remaining at 67.

The county's daily case count per 100,000 people fell from 5.2 last week to 4.7, and the seven-day rate of residents testing positive for the coronavirus dropped from 4.2 percent last week to 3.9 percent.

To move up from the red tier to the orange tier in the state's monitoring system, the county must have a daily new case rate per 100,000 of 1 to 3.9 and a positivity rate of 2 to 4.9 percent.

The county has 34 percent of its intensive care unit beds available and 64 percent of its ventilators available. The change in the 3-day average for hospitalized patients stands at -6 percent.

The OCHCA reported that 755,781 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including 6,054 reported Wednesday. There have been 45,900 documented recoveries.

All schools will be allowed to reopen for in-class instruction by Tuesday, OCHCA Director Dr. Clayton Chau told the county's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. So far, the county has approved 140 elementary schools to reopen through the state's waiver process, Chau said.

Supervisors also approved a plan to set up drive-through flu vaccine clinics in each of the county's five districts to help stave off a potential "twindemic" of the flu and COVID-19 this fall.

The board also approved a plan to expand testing to reach residents who are of Asian-Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern and North African heritage.

"The Latino community remains the highest hot spot in the county, but the next highest is the API community as well as Middle Eastern and North African," Supervisor Andrew Do said. "This shows the board is very proactive in trying to address potential hot spots," Do said.

On Monday's six-month anniversary of the shutdown of large venues such as theme parks, Anaheim officials appealed publicly to the state for some kind of guidance on the reopening of Disneyland so they can better prepare. The state shutdown order of March 14 also affected the Anaheim Convention Center, the Honda Center and Angel Stadium.

Anaheim officials need "guidance on theme parks to reopen safely and responsibly when it is right," city spokesman Mike Lyster said. "We actually need a roadmap for recovery."

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state plans to make announcements "soon" relating to reopening guidelines for theme parks.

"I'm not here today to make that presentation, but want folks to know we are actively working in a number of sectors and will be making public the fruits of those negotiations and those efforts very, very shortly," Newsom said.

Buena Park Mayor Fred Smith, Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones and Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu held a news conference Wednesday to invite the governor to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm to judge for himself if the theme parks are ready to open. They appealed to the governor to give them more insight when the parks can reopen.

Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, the president of the California State Association of Counties, toured Disneyland on Wednesday with state Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa.

"I was extremely impressed with the level of protocols in place from temperature checks to face coverings, to the restriction of the number of persons in the stores and restaurants," Bartlett said. "They're being very, very diligent in downtown Disney to ensure everyone's respective health and safety whether it be the cast members or the public. They're doing a great job to keep the public safe and to keep the cast members safe."

Bartlett said Disneyland was "ready to reopen and should be allowed to reopen at this point." 

Bartlett said she believes state officials are considering theme parks like large convention centers or concert halls, but the main difference is most of the entertainment at the theme parks is outdoors, where experts say the virus does not spread as easily as it does indoors.

Bartlett said she is part of a "kitchen cabinet" of CSAC officials recently assembled and she plans to lobby state officials to reconsider the category theme parks fall into.

Orange County was upgraded from the purple to the red tier in California's coronavirus monitoring system last week. The move allowed for churches, theaters and other businesses to resume indoor operations, but with strict limits on capacity and other health measures in place.

Theaters, restaurants and churches are restricted to 25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. Museums, zoos and aquariums also were allowed to reopen indoor activities at 25 percent capacity. Shopping centers were given the green light to expand from 25 percent capacity to half-capacity under the red tier, while gyms were allowed to reopen at 10 percent capacity.