The average case rate per 100,000 residents in Orange County dropped from nine last week to four on Thursday. That’s half of the current national average, per New York Times data.
Meanwhile, the tally of patients hospitalized with the virus fell below 100 this week for the first time since last July.
“It is critical that we not pretend that COVID-19 is gone,” Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian’s Chief Executive Robert Braithwaite said in a letter on Mar. 30. “It will be with us for some time, and it will require continued adherence to guidelines and best practices.”
On Mar. 29, the FDA authorized a second COVID-19 booster for people over age 50. The second booster is to be taken at least four months after an eligible person’s initial booster dose.
The CDC also recommended immunocompromised people over age 12 and Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients to receive a second booster four months after their initial booster.
The news comes as President Biden received his second booster while imploring Congress to supply more pandemic relief funding on Wednesday.
Officials at Tustin-based non-profit Families Together of Orange County Community Health Center have also expressed a need for continued aid as second booster shots roll out.
“In order to be successful in boosting all of our vulnerable populations, local and federal governments must continue to support the effort and work of community health centers in the fight against Covid-19,” the clinic’s Chief Executive Alexander Rossel told the Business Journal in an email.
