Voice of OC
Orange County’s pace of hospitalizations and deaths from coronavirus have been consistently rising faster than its neighbors in recent weeks, and its rates have now overtaken three of the surrounding counties.
For the better part of the pandemic, which took hold locally in mid-March, Orange County’s deaths and hospitalizations for coronavirus were lower than all four of its surrounding counties on a per-resident basis.
But while other counties have seen hospitalizations and deaths rise more slowly or decrease, OC has jumped in recent weeks. For the last several days, Orange County’s rates have been higher than San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, as OC continues to climb.
OC’s pace of hospitalizations and deaths from coronavirus are now at their highest levels so far of the pandemic, with 83 people dying in the past two weeks and 364 people in the hospital as of Tuesday, according to data published by the California Department of Public Health.
“Covid cases are on the rise and we expected that when we reopened the economy,” county CEO Frank Kim told Voice of OC regarding the county overtaking most of its surrounding counties’ rates.
He noted that Dr. Nichole Quick, the county’s former health officer, repeatedly said cases would rise as the economy re-opened.
“As we reopen our economy, the positive cases will go up,” said Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Care Agency and acting health officer, in a statement to Voice of OC Wednesday about the rising hospitalizations and deaths.
“To mitigate this,” Chau said he’s asking the community to limit the virus’ spread by, among other things, wearing face coverings when a 6-foot distance can’t be maintained from people outside of their household, unless it’s unsafe to wear a mask.
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Supervisor Don Wagner, who has called for a safe re-opening of the economy, said the rising hospitalization and death rates are concerning and encouraged residents to wear masks.
“That [the rates] are climbing is a concern. And it’s important that we get a handle on it,” Wagner told Voice of OC in an interview Wednesday.
To prevent the virus’ spread, Wagner said people should wear masks when they can’t maintain a 6-foot distance from people who don’t live in the same household.
People shouldn’t interpret the county’s pulling back of a mandatory mask order as a sign that masks aren’t recommended anymore, Wagner said.
“Masks do work. If you can’t maintain social distancing, wear a mask. If you are sick, wear a mask,” Wagner said.
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“We’re now re-opening the county. And in my own personal observation, I think people have misinterpreted that to mean that they could go back to a lifestyle consistent with what they had before the pandemic,” said Dr. Thomas Cesario, an infectious disease doctor in Orange County and former longtime dean of UC Irvine’s medical school.
“We know the virus is still here, and we know that the curve of the cases in California in general, is on the upswing,” he added.
“Social distancing and masks, which combined with quarantining and tracking, have really been quite effective. And if you look at places in the world that have been strict in complying with those, it really does work,” Cesario said.
“The science now is getting overwhelming” about the effectiveness of masks, he said, pointing to journal articles like one published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Wagner, the county supervisor, said he hopes the re-opening of the economy is done safely, to prevent a surge in cases that could lead to a return to more restrictions.
“We’re headed towards a re-opening and opening more and more things. My hope is, and my expectation is, that [the county Health Care Agency] will keep a close eye on things. That, again, it will be done right, it will be done safely,” said Wagner, who has pressed county staff for clear answers on what thresholds would cause restrictions to be re-imposed.
“My real fear is that if there’s a second surge and we’ve got a mandatory [mask order] in place…we’ll have no fallback other than to shut things down again, and that would be a disaster,” he added. “I just don’t want to go to shutting down things again.”
OC Medical Association, Disease Experts Argue County Supervisors Should Have Kept Mask Order
Voice of OC
Former Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick issued a mask order late last month as dine-in restaurants and shopping centers were reopening. But she faced blowback from Supervisors and residents on the order.
Dr. Nichole Quick
OC Health Care Agency Director, Dr. Clayton Chau, took over for Quick after she abruptly resigned following a series of threats, including one during a public meeting that Supervisor Michelle Steel deemed a death threat.
Chau walked the mandatory mask order back last Thursday and masks are now a strong recommendation.
The Orange County Medical Association condemned the County’s handling of the mask situation….
