Orange County’s Health Care Agency reported 1 new coronavirus-related death and 203 new cases on Monday, Oct. 19, raising the county’s COVID-19 pandemic toll to 57,071 cumulative cases and 1,410 deaths.
The county hit a testing milestone over the weekend, surpassing 1 million swab tests for active coronavirus infections by Saturday.
Testing by public and commercial labs in Orange County began in early February and ramped up to a high of nearly 53,000 swab tests in a week during the mid-July surge. Testing declined in August and fell below 39,000 in the week ending Sept. 7 before recovering, surpassing 50,000 in the week ending Oct. 9.
Throughout the pandemic, test have been mostly reserved for first responders and other essential workers, as well as people with COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath.
Public health programs have begun offering tests to all residents, not just those with symptoms, in certain denser, lower-income neighborhoods where coronavirus spread outpaced other areas of Orange County.
County and private labs also have processed more than 71,000 blood tests, known as serology tests, to search for antibodies to determine if a person had COVID-19 at some point, even if they never showed symptoms.
Since Sunday, coronavirus hospitalizations also increased to 168, though the number of people hospitalized remains much lower than a high of 722 coronavirus patients in mid-July.
Last week, Orange County improved slightly from the week before in its rate of new coronavirus cases and its share of positive tests among neighborhoods hit hardest by the pandemic.
However, the county remained in the red tier for “substantial” coronavirus risk — part of the state’s four-tier pandemic monitoring system – because its case rate and health equity metrics did not meet targets to advance to the next-best, orange tier.
Counties must remain in a tier – purple, red, orange or yellow – for at least three weeks and also qualify for the next tier for two weeks to be allowed to advance and reopen more businesses and public spaces. Tiers can’t be skipped and counties that slip in any key metrics could return to tighter restrictions.
Orange County moved from the most critical and restrictive purple tier to the red tier on Sept. 8. State health officials update county metrics and announce tier changes each Tuesday.
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