SANTA ANA (CNS) - Orange County COVID-19 hospitalizations and infection rates saw more declines, according to the latest data released by the Orange County Health Care Agency.
Hospitalizations declined from 132 on Saturday to 126 on Sunday, the latest data available, while the number of intensive care unit patients ticked down from 25 to 24.
The last time hospitalizations were this low was in mid-July before the Delta variant-fueled summer surge. Of those hospitalized, 84% are unvaccinated and 86% percent in intensive care are not inoculated.
The county also reported 943 new cases, upping the cumulative to 545,787. The county also logged 15 new fatalities, increasing the cumulative death toll to 6,843.
Of the deaths logged, one occurred in March, increasing this month's death toll to 20. Six fatalities occurred in February, boosting its death toll to 291.
Three fatalities occurred in January, increasing its death toll to 534. Another three happened in December, increasing that month's death toll to 111. One happened in September and another occurred in August.
November's death toll stands at 115, October's at 136, September's at 202 and August's at 187.
January 2021 was the deadliest month of the pandemic, with a death toll of 1,600, ahead of December 2020, the next-deadliest with 986 people lost to the virus.
The case rate per 100,000 people declined from 4.8 Friday to 4.0 Monday. The testing positivity rate ticked down from 2.3% to 2%, and declined from 2.8% to 2.5% in the health equity quartile, which measures underserved communities hardest hit by the pandemic.
The county had 31% of its ICU beds available and 68.7% of its ventilators. Local health officials become concerned when the level of ICU beds falls below 20%.