SANTA ANA (CNS)—Orange County reported 4,204 new cases of COVID-19 and 43 additional deaths Jan. 9, bringing to county’s totals to 185,481 cases and 2,041 fatalities.
The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus decreased from a record 2,259 Jan. 8 to 2,221, with intensive care unit patients climbing from 514 to a record high of 528, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.
Ten of Jan.9’s 43 reported deaths were residents of skilled nursing facilities, while 15 were residents of assisted living facilities. Since the pandemic began, 683 of the dead were skilled nursing facility residents and 221 were from assisted living facilities.
There have been 140 fatalities reported this week. The death reports come from a variety of sources, so they are staggered and happened last month.
There were 17,080 tests reported Jan. 9, raising the cumulative to 2,223,962, according to the OCHCA. There have been 111,854 documented recoveries.
Orange County chief executive Frank Kim, referring to the expected surge of Christmas and New Year’s-related cases, said the current wave of the pandemic is going to get worse.
“People were not behaving around the holidays, so I’m fearful the numbers will be worse,'' Kim said. “Our case rates have not come down and the testing positivity rates are climbing.”
