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SANTA ANA (CNS) - The number of COVID-19-positive patients in Orange County hospitals ticked back up since last week, but testing-positivity rates declined, according to data released today by the Orange County Health Care Agency.
From Thursday through Monday, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 increased from 271 to 282, and the number of intensive care unit patients increased from 33 to 40. Officials cannot determine how many of the hospitalized patients were admitted directly for COVID-19 or tested positive while being treated for another ailment.
But from July 1-30, 143 patients admitted directly for COVID-19 were designed as incompletely vaccinated or unvaccinated. Another 39 received the primary series of shots, and 56 received booster shots. According to the county, 71.1% of hospital patients are incompletely vaccinated or totally unvaccinated. The percentage in intensive care is 72.1%. The county has 27.1% of its ICU beds available. Officials become concerned if that level falls below 20%.
The county's testing positivity rate decreased from 17.7% to 16.7% and declined from 20.9% to 20% in the health equity quartile, which measures the communities hardest hit by the pandemic. The county's daily case rate per 100,000 people decreased from 33.4 to 29.6 on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag, and from 32.3 to 28.7 for the adjusted rate, also with a seven-day average and seven-day lag.
The county logged 2,978 more infections from Thursday to Monday, raising the cumulative case count to 646,563. The county logged a dozen more fatalities, raising the overall death toll to 7,247.
Of the fatalities logged since Thursday, 11 occurred last month, raising July's death toll to 85. The first fatality logged for this month occurred on Aug. 1.
The OCHCA provides regular COVID updates on Tuesdays and Fridays. The case rate per 100,000 people for fully vaccinated residents who have received a vaccine booster went from 34.2 on July 31 to 22.7 on Aug. 7, the latest data available show. The case rate for residents fully vaccinated with no booster went from 21.2 to 14.5, and from 36 to 26.2 for residents not fully vaccinated.
The number of vaccinations administered in Orange County increased from 2,337,024 to 2,339,462, according to data released Tuesday. The county has also logged 206,818 residents who received one of two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Booster shots increased from 1,361,118 to 1,365,594. In the most recently authorized age of 4 and younger, the number of fully vaccinated residents increased from 943 to 1,462 versus 185,387 unvaccinated.
In the age group of 5-11 years old, only about 36% are vaccinated. By contrast, in the 12-17 age group, 70% are vaccinated and 30% are unvaccinated.