THE EFFECTS of the coronavirus have rattled the U.S. economy at an historic rate (Shutterstock).

Orange County’s coronavirus numbers continued to move in the wrong direction in Friday’s report from the county health care agency.

In the four major metrics of the status in the COVID-19 pandemic, each showed bad news. New cases of the virus rose to 1,603 from 1,102 the day before. Deaths rose to 17 from eight and hospitalizations increased to 746 from 735.

Perhaps the most important number is cases in intensive care units, because under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent order, regions whose ICU capacity fall below 15 percent would experience more restrictions on business and other activities. According to the OCHCA, the count of ICU patients is at 195, up from Thursday’s 179.

In the San Francisco area, officials there announced today (Friday) they would implement the “stay-at-home” rules on their own on Sunday, Dec. 6. The self-ordered rules will affect the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and Santa Clara, as well as the city of Berkeley.

New peaks in corona cases and deaths are being reported across the nation, according to the Associated Press. Daily new cases in the United States are now averaging  210,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University. The daily average of deaths in the U.S. is around 1,800, beginning to approach the peak in the “first wave” of the pandemic in April when fatalities exceeded 2,200 each day.