While California is making adjustments to its statewide indoor mask mandate later this week, the state of emergency is still in effect in Irvine and throughout Orange County, since it was adopted in March 2020. In the 35 months since its enactment, the state of emergency has transitioned into various shapes, sizes and colored tiers.

While many consider the month-to-month decreases in COVID-19 cases a positive sign, there is no telling when Orange County will exit the emergency order.

While the focus on color-coded tiers or capacity limits may be distant memories, the state of emergency remains constant and Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said she is in no rush to exit. Khan, who founded Orange County’s first COVID-19 Task Force, said Irvine will continue to take action as needed. Khan added that the state of emergency gives the city the ability to introduce an action, without a City Council discussion.

“I don’t believe we need to rush into ending the State of Emergency. For us, in Irvine, we are monitoring our cases and will take appropriate action as needed,” she said. “It gives us the flexibility to initiate action without having to wait for a council meeting,” Khan wrote in a text to Irvine Weekly on Thursday.

Alternatively in Orange County, Third District Supervisor Don Wagner has vocalized his support for ending the state of emergency,

“Here in Orange County, we have done a very good job of protecting ourselves and responsibly dealing with COVID-19. All of our COVID-19 metrics are better than surrounding counties that have tougher restrictions. In fact, the Board and I have worked hard to assure that absolutely no restrictions are placed on you or your children beyond what state law demands,” Wagner said in a statement. “Like you, the Board of Supervisors is bound to follow the law. But Newsom apparently isn’t, and this must change.”

In terms of daily COVID-19 cases, the first week of February illustrated a dramatic decrease in cases, in comparison to the first week of January. In the first week of 2022, the Orange County Health Agency reported nearly 27,508 cases between December 28 – January 4.

Between February 1 and February 10, HCA has reported 11,398 new cases. On Thursday, Feb. 10, the Orange County Health Agency reported 1,242 new COVID-19 cases with 43 deaths, which brings the county’s accumulative total to 6,308 COVID-19 fatalities.

Hospitalizations have also declined, with adult bed capacity just over 22%.

As of February 10, the HCA COVID-19 dashboard showed 508 people hospitalized with COVID-19, with 118 in the intensive care unit.

Dr. Clayton Chau, OC Health Care Agency Director and County Health Officer, shared optimism over the month-to-month decline, adding that this could be a sign that the Omicron variant could be on the downswing. However, Chau urged those who were at risk to continue masking indoors for the time being.

“We are seeing cases and hospitalizations decrease, which is a positive sign that our most recent surge is slowing down,” Chau said. “The consistent masking efforts by our residents has contributed to the declines in cases. To protect those at high risk, we are recommending that OC residents continue masking in public, indoor settings, especially those who are at high risk.”

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.