Orange County Vaccinates Record Numbers, Yellow Tier Within Reach

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Seeing people in folding chairs, bent over cell phones, or snapping photos of their vaccination cards is not an uncommon sight these days. Orange County saw a significant decline in the number of intensive care unit COVID-19 patients as more residents than ever were vaccinated in a single day. According to county officials, trends are continuing in a positive path in Orange County Monday, officials say.

Over the weekend, residents arrived at area CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Albertson's, and more pharmacies to sign in for the newly available coronavirus vaccines. Though the shots have been in circulation since January, only in April, have appointments been more readily available to a broad group of residents.

With each quick-stick and Band-aid comes further hope for Orange County and Southlanders as the number of infections and hospitalizations drop, and fear is being replaced with hope.

The county reported 208 new infections and logged four more coronavirus-related deaths since Saturday, bringing the cumulative case count to 251,310 and the death toll of 4,772.

Hospitalizations are trending down, a positive sign as more businesses reopen, officials say. Vaccines are also being made available through many retail pharmacy outlets, including CVS, Ralph's, Walmart, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Costco, and more, according to the state.

Orange County is coming off a record for COVID-19 vaccinations set Thursday when 13,400 doses were administered at the county-operated point of dispensing sites.

The much belabored Othena vaccination website portal has at last caught up with the over 1,100,000 registrants and is offering "same-day vaccination appointments," according to the website.

Hospitalizations remained at 109, the same as Saturday, but the number of patients in intensive care dropped from 23 to 16, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

The county has 36.5% of its ICU beds available and 72% of its ventilators.

The county's death toll for March stood at 116, far below the February number of 551. The death toll for January, the deadliest by far during the pandemic, stands at 1,470, while December's was 922.

The December and January death tolls reflect a holiday-fueled surge. The monthly totals continue to be adjusted as deaths are confirmed as being COVID-related.

The most recent weekly update from the state, issued on Tuesdays, showed the county's test positivity rate improved from 2.1% to 1.7%. The adjusted case rate per 100,000 people on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag improved from 3.5 last Tuesday to 2.8.

The county's Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hotspots in disadvantaged communities, improved from 3.2% to 2.6% last week.

Orange County officially moved into the orange tier of the state's re-opening system last Wednesday. That same day, officials opened their newest large-scale vaccination POD site at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

The county's move into the orange tier of the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy allowed the county to ease restrictions on various business sectors. Retail stores now do not have to limit capacity at all, and churches, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums were allowed to expand from 25% to 50% of capacity.

The state permitted restaurants to expand indoor dining to 50% and wineries to offer indoor service at 25%, while bars that don't serve food got the green light to reopen outdoors. State health officials have also cleared gyms and fitness centers to expand to 25% of capacity, and family entertainment centers can offer indoor attractions such as bowling.

Under current rules, the county's new case rate must dip below 1 per 100,000 residents to make it to the yellow tier, but the county has qualified for the yellow tier in positivity rates for the past week.

Once the state reaches 4 million vaccinations in low-income communities, the benchmark for advancing to yellow will increase to 2 per 100,000 residents.

A move to the yellow tier would mean more dramatic increases in allowable capacity at a host of businesses and attractions, along with a reopening of indoor bars and increased attendance at Angel's games and other outdoor sporting events.

Until then, health officials continued to urge residents to adhere to infection-control measures to avoid the kind of case increases being seen in more than two dozen other states over the past two weeks.

Have you been vaccinated yet? Let us know in the comments or over email what, if anything, has changed for you lately as life slowly returns to normal.

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