Orange County’s COVID-19 hospitalizations jump up

The hospital patient levels are part of a new normal, Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist and UC Irvine [associate] professor of population health and disease prevention, told news sources on Friday. “We’re in a new normal now where we’re right in the midst of a transition to endemicity,” Noymer said. “We’re moving out of the epidemic phase where everything is chaotic and moving to the epidemic phase where it’s more like the flu.” Noymer said “200 people hospitalized is going to be the new normal for some time for COVID for Orange County.”