SANTA ANA (CNS) - Orange County Health Care Agency officials say there's been another COVID-19 fatality, raising the death toll to 424, as 540 more coronavirus cases were reported, hiking that total to 25,255.
Last week, the county received reports of 58 deaths, but three fatalities since Sunday. The most recent death was Friday.
Of the 25,255 cases of coronavirus, 1,315 were skilled nursing home facility residents and 212 of them have died. Fifteen of the fatalities were assisted living facility residents.
The number of hospitalized patients dipped from 675 on Sunday to 674, and the number of patients in intensive care rose from 233 to 235.
The county has reported 314,191 coronavirus tests with 10,554 documented recoveries.
Orange County is on the state's watch list for counties experiencing high rate of new cases and hospitalizations. It has shown some improvement, but also continues with some concerns.
The county's case rate per 100,000 residents is 225.8, nine times the California Department of Public Health threshold of 25 per 100,000 residents.
The rate of residents testing positive for COVID-19 is 14.9%, much higher than the state's desired rate of 8%.
However, the three-day average of hospitalized patients is 1.1%, much lower than the state's threshold of 10%.
Also, the county has 42.8% of its intensive care unit beds available, more than double the state's threshold of at least 20% to handle a surge. The county also has 65.8% of its ventilators available, also more than double the 25% minimum expected by the state.
In the county's jails, 431 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 with 399 having recovered and 32 in medical isolation being treated for symptoms. The county is awaiting the results of 48 tests.
Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed more restrictions for the 30 counties on the state's watch list.
Orange County, which earlier was ordered to close its bars and prohibit indoor dining, now must again shut down fitness centers, indoor religious services and non-essential businesses such as beauty salons, and shopping malls.
The Orange County-based Nailing it for America organization, which represents nail salons, issued a statement saying it understood the rollback.
“Now, we join California and the entire nation in expressing our alarm at the resurgence of COVID-19,'' said Tam Nguyen, co-counder of the organization and president of Advance Beauty College in Garden Grove and Laguna Hills.
“Though it comes with mixed feelings to business owners and other professionals in the nail-care industry, we will do our part in adhering to the governor's order to help keep Californians safe during these continued troubling times.''
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange issued a statement acknowledging “that it is our responsibility to protect the health of our parishioners while preserving their religious and essential right to attend Mass.''
“Given the increase in COVID-19 cases in the state of California and the County of Orange and for the sake of the common good, the Diocese of Orange will be advising our parishes to suspend indoor services until further notice,'' the statement said. “However, we encourage our parishes to offer outdoor Masses with proper Covid-19 safety protocols and to continue their livestreaming of services to the faithful.''
Churches offering outdoor services include, St. Polycarp in Stanton, St. Boniface in Anaheim, Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Habra, Sts. Simon & Jude in Huntington Beach, St. Pius V in Buena Park and Holy Trinity in Ladera Ranch.
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