Orange County COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to climb on Tuesday,
with 69 more patients reported.
The county has reached another record-high of 946 hospitalized patients
— with 235 in intensive care.
Another 1,671 cases were also reported, raising the cumulative total to
90,513. No new virus-related fatalities were reported, so the death toll
remains at 1,633.
ICU bed availability plummeted from 18% on Monday to 13% on Tuesday, but
the county held onto its 53% of available ventilators.
The last time the county’s intensive care unit beds were that full
was on July 22 when there were 233 patients.
Southern California, which is now under a regional stay-at-home order,
is reported a cumulative ICU availability of 10.1%.
Orange County’s adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 rose on Tuesday
to 30.3, up from 22.2 last week with the positivity rate going up from
8.8% to 10.6%.
At Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting, 64 residents signed up
to comment, and most pleaded with the county to ignore the regional stay-at-home order.
Supervisor Andrew Do, the vice chairman of the board, said, “We plow
the same field over and over and I still see the misperception in the
community” about the authority of the county when it comes to the state
regulations.
Dr. Clayton Chau, the county’s chief health officer and director
of the HCA, reminded residents that the county cannot defy these orders.
“I am the extension of the California Department of Public Health,
so any guidance coming down from the California Department of Public Health
I must follow,” Chau told the board. “I can be stricter in
terms of issuing guidance, but I cannot be more relaxed than the state.”
Chau also told supervisors that the county is expecting about 25,000 doses
of COVID-19 vaccine from the first round that is being distributed nationwide.
Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach has just installed its ultra cold freezer
necessary to store the vaccines.
“The public hearing for the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer
vaccine occurs on Thursday,” said Dr Philip Robinson, medical director
of infection prevention at Hoag Hospital. “We could hear that day
or next day and once they decide that this vaccine has met all safety
criteria and effectiveness, my understanding is within 24 hours that the
vaccine will be on the move.”
The county could receive its doses as early as Dec. 15, and Chau said they
would go to healthcare workers. Then, residents of skilled nursing facilities
would be next on the list.
“The initial people that will be getting the vaccine in this very
first wave will be healthcare providers that are putting themselves at
risk caring for COVID patients so these will be bedside nurses and doctors
caring for COVID patients,” Robinson said. “The other group
to receive the initial COVID vaccine will be residents of skilled nursing
facilities.”
Vaccines for the general public are not expected until spring or early
summer, Chau said.
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