SANTA ANA—Orange County has reported 56 new COVID-19 infections, as hospitalization rates maintain some of the lowest numbers since the first couple of months of the pandemic. There were 21 new cases reported May 30, when hospitalizations stood at 63. Meanwhile there were 15 intensive care unit patients. Orange County chief executive Frank Kim told City News Service that all of the county’s COVID-19 metrics are “down about a tenth of a point. It’s a progression of what we’ve seen over the last several weeks.” It is especially encouraging as more of the county’s economy reopens in the least-restrictive yellow tier, Kim said. “The numbers are generally looking amazing,” Andrew Noymer, a University of California– Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, told City News Service on May 27. “It’s cyclical, but the cycles are tending downward,” Noymer said of hospitalizations and ICU numbers. Kim was concerned that the …