Orange County Reports 582 New COVID-19 Cases, 9 More Deaths
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) -- Orange County reported another 582 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, raising the cumulative case count to 67,167.
Nine more virus-related fatalities were also announced, bringing the death toll to 1,537.
Deaths are still, overall, on the decline. Last week, the county reported 18 deaths, compared with 24 the week before. Since Sunday, the county has reported 13 deaths.
The number of hospitalizations rose from 291 on Wednesday to 304 on Thursday. The number of ICU patients dropped from 90 to 83.
County officials said on Wednesday that they are still confident that local hospitals can handle the surge.
"I think it's important to take a look at the positive COVID-19 cases in the county, but also as a percentage of those cases, how many of those are individuals who get hospitalized and also keep track of our hospital bed capacity,'' County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said. "We need to keep track as COVID cases rise and how many get hospitalized. We want to sure our health care system doesn't get overwhelmed.''
The county is rolling out a program to distribute no-cost home test kits for residents to help encourage quarantining and social distancing.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
