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Health Nov 23, 2022
| Photo courtesy of the National Institutes of Health
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The number of COVID-19 patients at Orange County hospitals has surpassed 200 amid a rising transmission rate, according to the latest state numbers.
There are 202 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals, up from 175 Saturday. Of those patients, 32 were being treated in intensive care.
The number of statewide COVID-positive patients increased by 98 in Tuesday’s report to 2,581.
Local health officials say COVID positivity rates and hospitalizations have showed signs of creeping upward again. According to the Orange County Health Care Agency, the county’s test positivity rate ticked up from 5% to 5.1% in its most recent update last Thursday, with the statistic going from 4% to 4.7% in the health equity quartile, which measures the communities hardest hit by the pandemic.
The daily case rate per 100,000 increased from 4.8 to 5.3 on a seven- day average with a seven-day lag, and inched up from 4.9 to 5 in the adjusted daily case rate per 100,000 on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag.
The OCHCA logged 1,602 cases for the week of Nov. 10-16, increasing the cumulative case count to 677,236 since the pandemic began. The OCHCA also logged six more fatalities, boosting the cumulative death toll to 7,561.
The OCHCA reports COVID data every Thursday.
Of those hospitalized, 68% are incompletely vaccinated or unvaccinated and 68.4% of the COVID-19 patients in intensive care units are incompletely vaccinated or unvaccinated, the agency said.
The positivity rate for those fully vaccinated with a booster went from 6.8 on Nov. 6 to 7.8 on Nov. 13, according to the latest data available. For those vaccinated with no booster, the rate went from 3.2 to 3.6. For those not vaccinated the rate went from 5.1 to 7.6.
