SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS)—Orange County’s run in the COVID-19 red tier ended Nov. 16 with a lapse back into the most-restrictive purple tier of California’s four-tier reopening roadmap.
Orange County—which has seen a big spike in new cases along with the rest of the state—joined 28 other counties with a jump back into the purple tier.
County health officials reported 380 new cases of COVID-19 on Nov. 16, raising the cumulative count to 65,605. There were no new fatalities, so the death toll remains at 1,526.
Although cases have risen sharply—with more than 500 cases announced on Nov. 13 and Nov. 14, and more than 600 on Nov. 15—deaths have been decreasing. Last week, the county reported 18 deaths, compared with 24 the week before.
Officials Concerned About Staffing Shortages
County officials expected to learn they would fall back into the purple tier on Tuesday, Nov. 17, but state officials moved it up a day due to concerns about hospital staffing shortages, Bartlett said.“We have 78,000 hospital beds statewide, but staffing for only 45,000 to 55,000,” Bartlett said. “Hospitals are having a difficult time keeping staffing levels up.”
The number of county residents hospitalized with the disease rose from 242 on Nov. 15 to 257 on Nov. 16, with the number in the intensive care unit declining from 90 to 85, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA).
The change in the three-day average of hospitalized patients went from .3 percent to -0.7 percent. The county has 31 percent of its intensive care unit beds and 65 percent of its ventilators available.
Previously, a relatively small percentage of infected people needed hospitalization, but that number has crept up to 12 percent who test positive requiring a stay in a hospital, Bartlett said.
Orange County, which has long boasted ample hospital capacity, is also reporting concerning staffing issues, Bartlett said.
“I’ve spoken to several individuals relative to our hospitals and they are very concerned about not being able to keep up their staffing levels,” Bartlett said.
County CEO Tests Positive
The rise in cases hit home locally when Orange County CEO Frank Kim was infected with COVID-19. Contact tracers suspect Kim was infected Nov. 5 and developed symptoms Nov. 7, before he was diagnosed as positive Nov. 10.“You can have COVID, you can be infectious even if you’re not symptomatic, so it’s important for everyone to take it seriously so we’re able to stem the growth of infections,” Kim told CNS.
Kim is frequently tested and he quarantined as soon as he felt symptoms, so no one else he has been in contact with has been infected, he said.
Kim said he was reluctant to share his diagnosis because he does not want to be the focus of county news, but he wanted his case to be a cautionary tale to others about the risk of contracting the disease.
“That’s really the message—even if you’re physically healthy you can get COVID and it can take you many weeks to recover,” Kim said.
More than a week into the illness he still experiences symptoms, the CEO said.
“It’s been seven days or so and I still don’t feel back to normal, and I’m not in a position to leave the house, and it’s very difficult,” Kim said.
He said he is running a low-grade fever off and on, and it strikes at unpredictable times. He also experienced occasional loss of taste and smell.
“When you have COVID you don’t have an appetite. Things don’t taste right,” he said. “Some things taste normal. Other things don’t.”
Kim said he has done his own “taste tests” with various foods.
“The only thing that tastes like I remember are bananas and honey melon,” Kim said. “Lemon jelly beans have no particular flavor. Vegetables don’t taste like anything.”
Orange County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Andrew Do noted how careful Kim has been.
“I don’t know of anyone who is more vigilant in protecting himself,” Do said.
“He has been tested many times. But despite all the precautions he has COVID-19. ... He has been very careful about wearing a mask and minimizing his contact with people. I know because I’m in regular meetings with him and briefings and he has been tested regularly.”
Supervisor Bartlett said Kim’s infection “shows you how easily COVID is transmitted” because he has taken every precaution.
“People need to be aware of that as we approach the holiday season with family gatherings,” Bartlett said.
According to OCHCA data, 1,255,178 COVID-19 tests have been conducted since the start of the pandemic, including 4,848 reported on Nov. 16. There have been 56,548 documented recoveries.
The county’s positivity rate, which has been reported each Tuesday but was moved up to Monday, Nov. 16, jumped up from 3.3 percent last week to 4.6 percent, and the daily case rate per 100,000 population ballooned from 5.6 to 10.8 on Nov. 16.
The county’s Health Equity Quartile Positivity Rate, which measures a county’s response to virus hot spots, decreased from 5.7 percent to 5.5 percent as of Nov. 10. It was not updated yet on Nov. 16. The county has to reach at least 5.2 percent in that metric to be upgraded from the red tier to the orange tier.
Kim said the case rate per 100,000 jumped higher than 8 as officials expected because the state began using a 4-day lag, instead of a 7-day lag.
County Plans to Provide Home Testing Kits
Vice Chairman Do said the county this week will announce a plan to provide home testing kits to residents to help stem the tide of COVID-19.The county has acquired 500,000 test kits that can detect the disease from saliva. Plans are to make them available at public libraries and city halls throughout the county, Do said.
“We want it to be mobile and at the neighborhood level, so people can see testing as part of their holiday safe practices,” he said.
“Before you go to see your grandparents, two or three days before you get tested, and after the family get-together, you wait two or three days and get tested again. Then that way you know going in or coming out of a get-together if you’re safe and the people you are with are safe.”
Experts recommend the two- to three-day buffer because it can take that long before the infection is detected from a test.
“We haven’t worked through the protocol yet,” but this week Orange County will have a program that will include locations that are easily accessible to people, Do said.
The rise in cases is “alarming,” he said. “It points to a very difficult winter season coming up, and couple that with the holiday season and people need to be very vigilant.”
County officials will also soon issue recommendations on best practices for get-togethers over the holidays, which include dining outdoors and keeping the gatherings small in number, Do said.
“Make it a lunch thing where the weather is more tolerable,” he said.
County officials had expected to fall back into the purple tier, but under earlier state guidelines that would have given enough time to allow for indoor dining at restaurants on Thanksgiving, and Black Friday shopping for malls at a higher capacity. The new state rules mean the tighter restrictions will be implemented sooner.
Instead of a 10-day lag, now businesses are expected to comply with the tighter restrictions as quickly as possible.
Schools won’t be closed, but there will be no new school reopenings unless they are able to acquire a variance from the county.
Businesses and institutions that are facing closures for indoor activity include churches, museums, zoos, aquariums, gyms, restaurants, and movie theaters.
Do said residents should reconsider how they gather for holiday celebrations.
“We have to be very thoughtful now how we celebrate the holidays,” Do said. “It is a time of reflection and family bonds and friendship, but this year in particular we have to weigh the very severe price we will all have to pay if this pandemic goes unchecked. ... Increasing the risk of infecting them would far outweigh the benefit of getting together with friends and family.”
Do said he is also mindful of the burden the restrictions are having on businesses.
“I want to emphasize this is something deep in my heart that there are a lot of people suffering,” Do said. “Not just from COVID, but a lot of business owners and families are seeing their livelihood and not knowing what the future will hold. This holiday season will be a strain on a lot of people.”
But cutting back on social gatherings and staying home as much as possible is important “so we can get back to rebuilding what a lot of business owners have lost.”
