SANTA ANA, Calif.—Orange County reported another 1,351 COVID-19 infections July 26, including infection numbers from the weekend, while the number of people hospitalized due to the virus continued to rise.
As of July 26, there were 194 people hospitalized in the county due to COVID, up from 156 July 32. There were 48 people in intensive care, up from 44 on July 23.
The new infections raised the cumulative total from throughout the pandemic to 262,071.
One more fatality due to COVID was reported, raising the countywide death toll to 5,139.
According to the Orange County Health Care Agency, the most dominant variants in the county in recent weeks have been the Delta, Alpha and Gamma variants. Delta and Alpha are considered much more highly contagious, with Delta now considered the most dominant strain statewide.
Experts say the current COVID vaccines all provide a high degree of protection against infections and—while they will not prevent all infections—they prevent serious illness and death.
According to the latest weekly averages released last Tuesday, Orange County’s average daily case rate per 100,000 residents increased from 2.6 to 4.9 in a one-week period, and the test positivity rate jumped up from 1.8 percent to 3.3 percent.
The county’s Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures the disadvantaged communities hardest hit by the pandemic, increased from 1.9 percent to 3.4 percent.
The county had recently been reporting coronavirus statistics once a week, but switched last week to a more frequent schedule of releasing numbers every weekday in light of the rapidly increasing number of infections. Riverside County made a similar switch last week.
As of July 22, the county reported that 1,876,853 residents were fully vaccinated. The number of residents who have received Pfizer or Moderna and are fully vaccinated is 1,754,729, and the number of those who received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and are fully vaccinated is 122,124.
The county reported there were 214,245 who have received at least one dose of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
