SANTA ANA (CNS) - Orange County health officials today released more details about coronavirus cases in the county, including a breakdown by city, with Irvine showing the highest number of confirmed cases.
County health leaders, however, implored residents to not read too much into the data, because a higher number of cases in one spot could be attributed to a variety of factors such as more access to testing because of health insurance coverage.
``We don't want people to assume a higher or lower number puts them at a greater or lesser risk,'' Orange County Public Health Director David Soulelas said at a news conference Friday.
Orange County Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick said the statistics do not indicate there has been a cluster or outbreak in any one area of the county.
Soulelas and Quick emphasized the importance of social distancing, as it will lessen the chances of a surge of cases that could overload the county's health system.
Mike Lyster, a spokesman for the city of Anaheim, said city officials were aware they had the second-most cases, behind Irvine.
``What we've been sharing with our residents is we should expect to be 10% of the case count because we're 10% of the county population,'' Lyster said.
``While it may be alarming for some folks to hear numbers city by city, it is actually a good thing,'' he said. ``It is more information that brings better understanding.''
``And it doesn't represent necessarily that they got infected here. They could have been traveling or got it in the workplace somewhere else. There are many different factors that go into it. It really turns out to be just another data point for us,'' he said.
Because of privacy laws, county officials determined they could not offer a breakdown in cities with populations under 25,000 such as Coto de Caza, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, La Palma, Los Alamitos and Villa Park. Their numbers are combined under a category of ``other'' on the county's website.
Following is the breakdown by city, according to the county's website:
-- Aliso Viejo, pop. 51,372, 2 cases;
-- Anaheim, pop. 359,339, 28 cases;
-- Brea, pop. 45,606, 1 case;
-- Buena Park, pop. 83,384, 7 cases;
-- Costa Mesa, pop. 115,830, 8 cases;
-- Cypress, pop. 49,833, 6 cases;
-- Dana Point, pop. 34,249, 7 cases;
-- Fountain Valley, pop. 56,652, 5 cases;
-- Fullerton, pop. 142,824, 7 cases;
-- Garden Grove, pop. 175,155, 4 cases;
-- Huntington Beach, pop. 203,761, 26 cases;
-- Irvine, pop. 280,202, 33 cases;
-- La Habra, pop. 63,542, 1 case;
-- Laguna Niguel, pop. 66,748, 11 cases;
-- Lake Forest, pop. 86,346, 5 cases;
-- Mission Viejo, 96,434, 6 cases;
-- Newport Beach, pop. 87,180, 32 cases;
-- Orange, pop. 141,691, 11 cases;
-- Placentia, pop. 52,333, 5 cases;
-- Rancho Santa Margarita, pop. 48,960, 3 cases;
-- San Clemente, pop. 65,405, 10 cases;
-- San Juan Capistrano, pop. 36,821, 9 cases;
-- Santa Ana, pop. 337,716, 13 cases;
-- Seal Beach, pop. 25,073, 1 case;
-- Stanton, pop. 39,307, no cases;
-- Tustin, pop. 81,369, 4 cases;
-- Westminster, pop. 92,610, 5 cases;
-- Yorba Linda, pop. 68,706, 10 cases;
-- Other, pop. 202,478, 27, cases;
-- Unknown, 34 cases.