On April 2, 2020, the Orange County Health Care Agency updated its daily COVID-19 case count for Orange County cities. Newport Beach, with a population of 87,180, reportedly has 60 cases of the coronavirus, or COVID-19.
This is in comparison to cities like Santa Ana, which has nearly four times the population but only shows 40 confirmed COVID-19 cases, or Garden Grove, a city of 175,155 with only 15 cases.
In response to an email sent to the Public Information Office at the Health Agency’s Orange County Emergency Operations Center asking why the Newport Beach case count was higher than cities with larger populations and lower numbers, and if COVID-19 patients at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach might contribute to that total, the Public Information Office replied that “there is not a specific reason to explain it. Numerous factors can contribute to case rates varying from city to city, state to state or nation to nation. The variance of case rates is seen throughout the state and the rest of the country. Regardless of the varied case rates, it is clear that the virus is circulating in all parts of the county and all residents of Orange County should take precautions regardless of where they live.”
According to a disclaimer on the OCHCA Coronavirus website occovid19.ochealthinfo.com regarding the Orange County cities case count, “COVID-19 now has reached community transmission status, which means people may have contracted the illness elsewhere in the County. This may not necessarily be in the city where they live. These data should not be interpreted as an indication of activity in any specific location. Under a community transmission status, the true prevalence of this disease may not be known as most cases are likely not diagnosed or reported.”
