COVID-19 Kills Some In Orange County, But Not Others?

(CTN News) – Since January 20, 2020, when health officials reported the first local fatality from COVID-19 – involving a man who had just returned from Wuhan, China – more than 7,700 people have died in Orange County as a result of the still-mysterious and evolving disease, making it the most deadly health event of recent decades.

COVID-19 has, however, been something else as well – an unequal-opportunity killer, according to three years’ worth of local health data.

According to Orange County Health Agency statistics, COVID-19 accounted for the third-highest number of deaths in Orange County during the first two years of the pandemic (the numbers for 2022 are not yet complete).

As the third-leading cause of death for older residents, ages 65 and older, it ranks ahead of Alzheimer’s disease, among other things.

Among Latinos in the area, COVID-19 accounts for the majority of deaths.

These inequities do not provide a complete picture of how the disease has manifested itself in different parts of Orange County at different times.

Based on county statistics through Dec. 30, 2022, approximately one in every 1,652 residents in Irvine, a city of 309,031 people, has died of COVID-19 since the start of 2020.

While the death rate has been approximately six times higher in Santa Ana, a neighboring city with almost the same population (309,441), roughly one out of every 271 residents has died.

It is common for such discrepancies to occur in a county that contains 34 cities and almost as many distinct economic, social, and demographic characteristics.

Two communities defined or shaped by the ages of their residents, Laguna Woods and Seal Beach, have experienced COVID-19 death rates nearly ten times higher than Laguna Beach, which has experienced the lowest death rate.

It should be noted, however, that cities without an age-centric population also demonstrate similar differences.

Although both cities have similar median ages, populations, and household incomes, the death rate in La Habra is roughly three times higher than in Tustin.

It is pertinent to note that such gaps are not entirely due to biology. As a result of three years of COVID-19 mortality, public health experts have revealed the sharp economic and social inequalities that existed in the county well before the outbreak started.

According to epidemiologist Dan Parker, the characteristics of people living in different places affect both the likelihood that they will be tested for COVID-19 and their risk of severe disease if they become infected.

Parker co-authored a study co-authored in 2021 that examined COVID-19 death rates in Orange County during the initial months of the pandemic.

“The virus was not different,” he continued via email. Rather, the difference lies in the demographics, biology, and socioeconomic conditions of the population.

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