There have been over 1-million COVID-19 tests administered in Orange County, and as of today 57,000 of them have come back positive. Of that number 1,410 people in the O.C. have lost their lives to the novel coronavirus. The daily positive coronavirus case count is now hovering around 200, a marked improvement from a few months ago. It is still up from the goal of just 130 new cases daily, which would allow the County to move from the red tier to the orange tier.
The orange tier brings economic advantages to the hard-hit retail sector. Shopping centers and stores are currently allowed to operate at 50% capacity in OC, and a shift to the orange tier would mean they can be at full capacity. Dr. Clayton Chau, the Orange County’s Chief Health Officer, warns OC families about the dangers associated with the upcoming Halloween festivities and the need to keep case counts low. “Do not mix with other households — that’s really important,” Dr. Chau told the OC Register this week. “Parties and in-person, door-to-door trick-or-treating pose a high risk of transmitting COVID-19. This year, I would suggest parents maybe you should buy candy and give it to your own kid.”
Similar advice is being issued to families in Los Angeles where the typical Halloween experiences are being converted into drive-through events. Officials there are asking for restraint during the spooky kick-off to the holiday season, and cautioning that October 31 could become a superspreader event. 923 new cases were reported in LA County yesterday, bringing the total case count for that region to just under 280,000. The death count in LA is 6,877, and the vast majority of COVID-19 cases have been in people under 50 years old.
While there are now fewer cases than in spring, there is still widespread community transmission of the virus in LA, and that is keeping the County from moving into the red tier. “The big effort for us at this point has to be to get community transmission rates down so that we get to Tier 2,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of LA Department of Public Health says. “That means a concerted effort over the next upcoming couple of weeks, to reduce our rate of community transmission. That’s going to take all of us — workplaces making sure they’re being super diligent, and every single person and the personal choices you make every day.” Ferrer is particularly concerned about the upcoming festive season. “I think where we’re still struggling is around gatherings,” Ferrer said. “I think there are still people who don’t feel like they need to take precautions for themselves. I also think there’s a false sense of security we have when we’re with people we know.”
Ferrer’s sentiment is a concern across all of California, as well as throughout the nation as we move into the holidays that typically brings families together. On a state-wide basis California has shown improvement over the last two weeks, with new cases per day now down 7% from a fortnight ago. The average number of new cases per day is still around 3,000 however, a number that could rise as people gather to celebrate during the winter months.
California is one of just 5 states that is currently seeing a decline in the average number of new cases according to the NY Times. Hawaii, Maine, Delaware, and Wisconsin round out the list. New Mexico is experiencing a 133-percent increase in the number of new cases, the highest in the nation by percentage. Cases in 44 other states are also increasing, an alarming statistic as we head into the flu season and outdoor dining and activities will be restricted in states with colder climates.
The national statistics paint a dismal picture. New cases are up 34-percent across the U.S., according to the NY Times. That represents just under 60,000 new cases per day. More than 220,000 people have lost their lives to the pandemic so far, and 8,255,400 people in the United States are documented to have been infected with the coronavirus so far.