Orange County continued to set records Thursday for COVID-19 hospitalizations, with the number rising to 1,893, while officials also reported another 3,490 confirmed virus infections.
The number of people hospitalized was a 39-patient jump from Wednesday. Of the 1,893 hospital patients, a pandemic-high 405 were being treated in intensive care.
Throughout the pandemic, a total of 138,310 cases of COVID have been confirmed in the county, while 1,782 have died.
Thursday's number of new infections was down slightly from Wednesday, when the county reported a single-day record of 4,406 new cases.
The county reported 80 coronavirus-related deaths last week, up from 62 the week before and 41 and 26, respectively, in the two previous weeks.
Since Sunday, the county has reported 22 deaths.
How Coronavirus Has Grown in Each State — in 1 Chart
This chart shows the cumulative number of cases per state by number of days since the 50th case.
Source: The COVID Tracking Project
Credit: Amy O’Kruk/NBC
The county's state-adjusted ICU bed availability remained at zero, but the unadjusted figure was 7.9% as of Thursday. The state created the adjusted metric to reflect the difference in beds available for COVID-19 patients and non-coronavirus patients.
Just because a county's adjusted ICU rate may be zero, it does not mean there are no beds available, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said. The difference in the rates reflects what is historically expected from non-coronavirus emergencies, he said.
But county officials stressed that anyone with a medical emergency should still dial 911.
County officials are bracing for another surge in cases related to holiday gatherings piled on top of the Thanksgiving-fueled wave.
