Coronavirus Cases Rise, Super Bowl Worries Grow In Orange County

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Super Bowl weekend leaves a pit in the stomach for Orange County officials. With numbers trending down, allowing local health care experts to see a bit of light at the end of the dark tunnel of high case rates from December and January, now officials warn over too much gathering on Super Bowl Sunday.

Orange County CEO Frank Kim discussed reasons why the favored sports event is causing concern.

"I'm worried about the Super Bowl," Kim told City News Service in a recent interview. "The concern is that the governor has lifted the stay-at-home order, and there's a general sense of euphoria seeing older relatives and family members getting vaccines, so there's a sense of safety we haven't felt in a long time."

Now is not the time to let our guard down, according to Kim. An additional 1,028 new coronavirus cases were reported Friday, raising Orange County's cumulative total to 236,338 cases since the pandemic began.

Friday was the first time since the start of the week that case counts topped 1,000.

Younger adults might "go out and interact in unsafe ways during Super Bowl weekend, and I would hate to see us have a spike," Kim says. "Hospitals are stepping up vaccinations as the number of patients has gone down."

Kim hopes to build on the momentum since November, December and January, now that the holidays are over. The saving grace is that the weekend is expected to be warm and sunny, and hopefully, those who do meet will do so outdoors.

Orange County's numbers are "mirroring San Diego County's, which signals a positive trend," he says.

As of Friday, Orange County's positivity rate was 10.2, and its case rate per 100,000 population was at 32.5, according to statistics released by Orange County Health Care Agency.

Hospitalizations for coronavirus patients in Orange County remain on a downward trend Friday, declining to 1,233 on Friday. The number of patients in intensive care dropped to 342, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

The state-adjusted ICU bed availability is still at zero, and the unadjusted figure increased from 9.6% on Thursday to 11.1% Friday, indicating that ICUs are opening up in the county. The state created the adjusted metric to reflect the difference in beds available for COVID-19 patients and non-coronavirus patients.

Residents across the county are still testing for coronavirus, with a total of 15,006 tests conducted on Friday, bringing the total to 2,748,226.

Of the latest reported deaths, four were skilled nursing facility residents, hiking the total to 857. Three were assisted living facility residents, hiking that total to 359.

In the past five days, the county has logged 261 coronavirus-related fatalities.

One week ago, the county reported 393 coronavirus deaths, up from 305 the week before. According to OC Health Care, the death reports are staggered because they come from a variety of sources and are not always logged immediately.

Residents are still battling the Othena App for vaccination appointments at either the Disneyland or Soka University Super Point of Dispensing. Still, those complaints are fewer and farther between as residents resign themselves to wait for their notification emails in "the waiting room."

More vaccination locations are opening up, and starting Tuesday residents will be able to try for vaccination appointments at some Orange County CVS locations.

Read: CVS Plans For Coronavirus Vaccines At These OC Locations

Others seek answers from a Facebook Group knowledge base, helping Orange County residents find appointments and learn what to bring with them when they go.

Read: Laguna Beach Woman Helps Others With Vaccinations, Othena Advice

Orange County has hired a new CEO of Translation to get the word out for public health and vaccinations amid coronavirus. They announced this week. With Latinos, Asians, and other minority communities lagging in getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Martin Plascencia hopes that his Spanish-language outreach for Orange County will make a true difference in helping more people of color vaccinated.

Read: Martin Plascencia To Head Spanish-Language Outreach For County

To move to the less-restrictive red tier from the top purple tier in the state's coronavirus regulatory system, the county has to improve to 4 to 7 new daily cases per 100,000 and a 5% to 8% positivity rate with a health equity quartile at 5.3% to 8%.

And we won't get there if the Superbowl turns into a Super Spreader event, OC Health Care reminds us. Besides, if you like watching Super Bowl commercials?

It's so much easier to pick out your favorite one from the couch at home. Which ones do you think will be the big winners this year? Let us know in the comments, and we'll tell you ours.