ORANGE COUNTY remains in the red tier for coronavirus, but there’s hope for moving to the less-restrictive orange tier (Shutterstock).

Orange County’s key coronavirus numbers showed an uptick on Friday.

The number of daily positive cases was at 282, compared to 150 on Sept. 15, and there were 22 deaths reported, against 12 on Sept. 15, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

The increases showed a possible slowdown on the county’s path for a move soon from the “red” tier the OC is in now to the less-restrictive “orange” tier. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the county’s numbers qualified it for “orange,” but a county must remain in its tier for three weeks, and – once it’s attained numbers to qualify for a change in tiers – wait for two weeks before making the jump.

The increase in numbers could be the result of a backlog of reports, and the numbers are likely to fluctuate from day to day. Each Tuesday is when the California Department of Public Health publishes its stats on test positivity and number of new cases per 100,000 people that determine tier standing.

So far, Orange County has a total of 52,904 confirmed cases and 1,204 deaths. Of those confirmed cases, 47,660 are considered recovered.