SANTA ANA, Calif. (KNX) — Public health officials in Orange County have reported local deaths resulting from COVID-19 have surpassed 6,000.
The county also recorded 27 new COVID fatalities in January on Wednesday.
Despite passing the milestone of 6,000 deaths, hospitalizations and other data have indicated that the surge in cases fueled by the emergence of the Omicron variant has begun to subside.
"We should expect that the death curve is going to fill in," Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist and UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, told City News Service on Wednesday. "The January [death toll] is going to look an awful lot like the August (death toll) before it's all said and done," he said.
The number of COVID patients in O.C. hospitals dipped from 1,114 on Tuesday to 1,086; and the number of ICU patients dropped from 191 to 179.
Of those hospitalized, 85% are unvaccinated.
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