Orange County breaks 1,000 mark for coronavirus cases

Known cases of COVID-19 jumped past 1,000 Wednesday in Orange County alongside the announcement of two more deaths attributed to the respiratory disease.

The county Health Care Agency said Wednesday that 1,016 people have tested positive for the coronavirus and 17 people have died. The current cumulative case count comes from 11,791 tests.

The agency also said Wednesday that 99 people were hospitalized with the virus, 59 of them in intensive care. These daily counts have been volatile since the county started sharing them March 31, ranging from 67 inpatients to 137 in that time.

The number of hospitals reporting has also varied — 25 medical centers across the county are eligible to report COVID-19 patients, but not all of those hospitals are reporting daily, according to agency data. Wednesday’s report came from 20 hospitals; Tuesday’s update, which noted 129 patients, drew from 24 hospitals.

Orange County’s day-to-day new case counts have also been up and down over the last week or so, spiking at 104 new cases on April 1. Since then the daily countywide new cases have been recorded as 55, 57, 72, 49, 50, 50 and, from Tuesday to Wednesday, 91. Daily county data is preliminary and subject to change.

The deaths are spread over a range of age groups, but seniors are the most represented: Nine of the people who have succumbed were 65 or older, representing roughly half of deaths but only about 20% of infections.

Here are the latest case counts for select cities, with their numbers per 10,000 residents:

• Anaheim: 104 (2.9 cases per 10,000 residents)
• Irvine: 89 (3.2 cases per 10,000 residents)
• Newport Beach: 78 (8.9 cases per 10,000 residents)
• Huntington Beach: 73 (3.6 cases per 10,000 residents)
• Santa Ana: 74 (2.2 cases per 10,000 residents)
• Laguna Beach: 34 (14.6 cases per 10,000 residents)
• Costa Mesa: 21 (1.8 cases per 10,000 residents)
• Fountain Valley: 15 (2.6 cases per 10,000 residents)

Updated figures are posted daily at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc.

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