THE BATTLE against the coronavirus isn’t won yet. To safeguard against infection – and to speed up the re-opening of schools and business – keep wearing those masks, washing hands and – as appopriate – practice social distancing (Shutterstock).

One day after a potentially worrisome spike in coronavirus statistics in Orange County, the numbers went back to their recently typical decline on Saturday.

According to the county health care agency, all four major categories showed downward movement. Confirmed new cases dropped from 112 on Friday to 80 on Saturday. Deaths fells from 17 to five. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 ticked down from 135 to 134 and the number of patients being treated in intensive care units for the virus slid from 29 to 25.

To date, Orange County has had 252,884 cases, of which 245,151 are considered recovered. Deaths are at 4,891.

Here is a list of the OC cities with the most cases. Deaths are in parentheses.

• Santa Ana: 44,698 (845)
• Anaheim: 41,755 (857)
• Garden Grove: 16,545 (384)
• Orange: 11,868 (251)
• Fullerton: 11,350 (295)
• Huntington Beach: 10,698 (214)
• Irvine: 10,585 (84)

Westminster has had 7,151 cases and 202 deaths. Stanton has had 3,163 (67).

According to The New York Times, new coronavirus cases are up eight percent over the last 14 days, although deaths are down 12 percent. The percentage of American adults fully vaccinated is now at 25 percent; 39 percent have had at least one dose.

In California, the Los Angeles Times estimated that 25 percent of Californians are fully vaccinated, with 40.6 percent with at least one dose.

Johns Hopkins University counts 140,296,228 cases of coronavirus worldwide, and 3,004,312 deaths. In the U.S., there have been 31.8 million cases, and 566,863 deaths.