SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS) — The number of COVID-positive patients in Orange County hospitals dropped by one to 258, with 37 being treated in intensive care, up from 35 the previous day, according to the latest state figures released Wednesday.
Those numbers come one day after the county reported 1,950 more infections from Friday to Monday, and logged 27 additional deaths linked to the virus. Some of the deaths occurred weeks ago.
The county’s test positivity rate dropped to 14.2%, down from 14.8% last Thursday, and dropped from 17.5% to 16.3% in the health equity quartile, which measures the communities hardest hit by the pandemic, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.
The OCHCA provides regular COVID updates on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The county has 28.3% of its ICU beds available. Officials become concerned if that level falls below 20%.
Orange County’s daily case rate per 100,000 people decreased from 22.2 to 20.6 on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag, and from 22.1 to 20.3 for the adjusted rate, also with a seven-day average and seven-day lag.
The OCHCA has recorded 655,512 cases of COVID-19 and 7,330 deaths since the pandemic began.