SANTA ANA—Orange County reported 113 new cases of COVID-19 and 45 additional deaths March 21. The county’s hospitalizations for COVID-19—a key metric officials are eyeing in this phase of the pandemic—dropped from 197 March 20 to 187, with the number of COVID patients in intensive care remaining at 43, the Orange County Health Care Agency reported. March 21’s numbers brought the county’s totals to 249,539 cases and 4,607 fatalities since the pandemic began. The test positivity rate as of March 21 was at 2.2 percent and 3.5 percent in the so- called health equity category that measures the underprivileged neighborhoods hardest hit during the pandemic. The county had 33.3 percent of its ICU beds available, and 72 percent of its ventilators.   The OCHCA also reported 8,003 COVID-19 tests March 21, raising the cumulative total to 3,249,404. There have been 240,949 documented recoveries. The case rate was 4 per 100,000 residents. …