Coronavirus Counts Decline In Orange County, Vaccines Available

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —Orange County continued encouraging signs of declining COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations Wednesday as a major healthcare provider opened one of two new mass vaccination sites in the county. Coronavirus daily case rates continue to decline, but not enough for Orange County to move into the less-restrictive yellow tier of the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy, according to reports from the health department.

The county reported just 53 new COVID-19 cases, upping the cumulative total to 253,206, and logged two deaths, one which occurred in January and the other in December, bringing the number or coronavirus fatalities in the region to 4,902.

The number of COVID patients in county hospitals fell from 127 on Tuesday to 110, and the number of those in intensive care units decreased from 25 to 23.

The county has 36.2% of its ICU beds available and 74% of its ventilators.

Providence, the national nonprofit healthcare provider, partnered with Edwards Lifesciences, an Orange County-based medical technology company, and the cities of Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Tustin to open two mass vaccination clinics.

Read: 2 New Vaccination Sites Open In Orange County With CA's My Turn

One opened Wednesday at the Edwards Lifesciences offices at 3009 Daimler St. in Santa Ana, and the other at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine will open on Monday as a drive-thru clinic.

According to numbers released Tuesday, the county's weekly averages for adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 residents improved from 3 last Tuesday to 2.8.

The overall positivity rate improved from 1.6% to 1.4%.

The county's Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hotspots in disadvantaged communities, improved from 1.8% to 1.7%.

The county's positivity rates qualify for the least restrictive yellow tier of the state system, but the case counts are still in the orange tier.

Moving into the yellow tier requires that the case rate to reduce to 2 per 100,000 population.

Another 13,473 COVID-19 tests were logged Wednesday bringing a total of 3,568,067.

The two additional deaths logged Wednesday raised the death toll in December to 930 and 1,508 in January. Those were the deadliest months since the pandemic began, with fatalities fueled by holiday activities.

Seven Orange County residents have died due to coronavirus in April as compared to the death toll for March stands at 169, and 569 for February.