Orange County’s COVID-19 hospitalizations tick down 

Orange County’s COVID-19 hospitalization number dropped to under 200 patients Friday.

Hospitalizations declined from 200 Thursday to 190, with the number of intensive care unit patients increasing from 42 to 43, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. There were 175 hospitalized patients in the county on Monday.

The county had 20.5% of its ICU beds and 72% of its ventilators available as of Friday.

Hospitalizations had been rising following a steady downward slide since late last month. As of Oct. 16, the county’s new case rate per 100,000 vaccinated residents was 2.7, down from 3.1 on Oct. 9. The rate among unvaccinated residents dipped from 14.6 per 100,000 to 13.7.

The number of fully vaccinated residents in Orange County increased from 2,147,048 Oct. 14 to 2,162,820 this week.

That includes an increase from 2,005,340 to 2,019,902 of residents who have received the two-dose regimen of vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna. The number of residents receiving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine increased from 141,708 to 142,918.

There are 190,068 residents who have received one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

The top providers of vaccines are the OCHCA at 26.20%, CVS at 18.4%, Walgreens at 6.2%, Kaiser Permanente at 5.4%, UC Irvine Health at 2.7%; Walmart at 1.9%, Safeway, Vons and Pavilions at 1.2%; Families Together of Orange County at 1.10%, and multiple others below 1%.

The county’s overall weekly COVID case rate per 100,000 residents, which is released on Tuesdays, improved from 7 to 6.6 this week, while the testing-positivity rate fell from 2.7% to 2.5%. The county’s Health Equity Quartile positivity rate — which measures progress in low-income communities — dropped from 3% to 2.5%.

The county also reported 104 new infections and logged 12 more deaths Friday, raising the cumulative totals to 302,735 cases and 5,562 deaths since the pandemic began.

Of the deaths reported Friday, three occurred this month, raising the county’s death toll for October to 15.

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