COVID-19 Cases Rise to 1,221 in Orange County

Orange County officials confirmed another 85 cases of COVID-19 and one additional death Saturday, for a total of 1,221 cases and 18 deaths.

The number of hospitalized patients dipped from 124 to 118, with the number of patients in intensive care increasing from 57 to 63, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Officials said 13,288 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the county, with enough kits for 1,557 more specimens.

Of the county’s cases, about 2% involve people under 18 years old; 8% are between 18-24; 17% are between 25-34; 15% are between 35-44; 39% are between 45-64, and 19% are 65 or older. Men make up 53% of the county’s cases, and 56% of its fatalities.

The number of Orange County Jail inmates testing positive for COVID-19 has risen to 13, sheriff’s officials reported. A dozen of the inmates are men and one is a woman, and three have since recovered, said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The 10 still afflicted with COVID-19 are in medical isolation, and 11 more inmates are in medical isolation because they are showing symptoms of the virus but have not tested positive, Braun said.

No more inmates are being accepted in the men’s and women’s jails and they are not being transferred to other lockups, Braun said. Newly booked inmates are also being quarantined, she said.

Anaheim has the most COVID-19 cases in the county with 135, followed by Santa Ana with 102 and Irvine with 95. Newport Beach has 84, but Huntington Beach is close behind with 83.

Laguna Woods, which resisted the use of a local hotel to house homeless people with the virus, has seven coronavirus cases. Wednesday was the first time the Health Care Agency reported statistics from the South County community, which has a population under 25,000, most of whom are of retirement age. Cases from such cities are not reported until they exceed five.

Villa Park, which has a population of 5,933, on Thursday entered the list since it reached five cases.

For the first time, the county on Thursday provided some demographic statistics related to COVID-19 in the area, but cautioned that officials were only getting about half of the racial breakdowns of patients and victims.

Of the 17 patients who died as of Thursday, six were Asian, three were Latino, two were white, five were of unknown ethnicity, and one was “other.”

Of the total cases, 51% are of an unknown race or ethnicity, 21% are white, 12% are Latino, 7% are Asian, 6% are in the “other” category. Nine people, or about 1%, are black, and another 1% are multiple ethnicities.

Orange County’s chief health officer Thursday issued a recommendation “strongly encouraging” face coverings for workers at essential businesses which remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Nichole Quick, who has the authority to mandate the action, stopped short of doing so. Her order was issued two days after the Orange County Board of Supervisors rejected Supervisor Andrew Do’s motion to make face coverings mandatory for at least food industry workers.

Quick said she decided on a recommendation versus a mandate “based on what we’re seeing numbers-wise. I’m hopeful we’re seeing a flattening of the curve.”

The evidence that there has been a slowing of coronavirus cases in Orange County due to social distancing may be shown in the fact that the county is not seeing an exponential increase in cases on a daily basis, Quick said. The number of hospitalizations have also remained stable, she noted.

If COVID-19 cases take off again down the line, Quick said she would revisit a mandate.

Quick said the recommendation follows guidance from the California Department of Public Health issued April 1.

“Residents can make their own face coverings at home from a variety of materials and should refrain from purchasing personal protective equipment that is critical and in short supply for our healthcare workers, such as N95 and surgical masks,” Quick said.

A face covering should be worn over the nose and mouth, she said. Any sort of ties or straps should be used to secure it to the head. They can be factory-made, folded, sewn or improvised from common household items such as scarves, T-shirts, sweatshirts or towels, she said.

“Face coverings are an additional tool that may help protect staff and patrons from COVID-19, but they are not a substitute for proven protective measures like frequent hand washing, keeping your hands away from your face, practicing social distancing and staying home,” she said.

Jerika Lam, a Chapman University associate professor of pharmacy and expert on viral infections, said face coverings ought to be mandatory in Orange County as well. Lam said that with state officials now able to acquire masks for healthcare workers on a mass scale, the fear of residents gobbling up a scarce supply has waned.

Lam said a newly published study showed how the virus can be spread in the air by talking.

“When we are talking, we can spew saliva, some of it can be in a fine mist, depending on the temperature,” Lam said. “When we’re in dry places like the desert, our saliva — the spit that comes out — may be in the form of aerosol, because there’s not much humidity to press it down.”

Lam added, “We will all get more used to wearing masks … Making this mandatory would not be unreasonable, especially when we’re trying to blunt or flatten the curve.”

The incubation time for the infection is four five days, and the average time to develop symptoms is 11 to 12 days, she said.

“I may be infected and not know I have it, walking around, and if I don’t use a mask to protect someone from getting it from me, I am putting that other persona at risk from getting infected, too,” Lam said.

Dr. Shruti Gohil, a UCI professor of infectious diseases, said “the jury is out what masks really do for you.”

Masks will not be effective if people don’t practice more important habits such as hand washing and refraining from touching the face, Gohil said. A small study of a handful of coronavirus patients who used masks showed the “outside of the masks were full of coronavirus,” she said.

“People cannot help it — they just touch their face,” Gohil said of studies.

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