SANTA ANA (CNS)—Orange County has again set new COVID-19 records for hospitalized and intensive care unit patients while adding 26 more fatalities. The number of hospitalized patients increased from 2,251 Jan. 8 to 2,259 Jan. 9, including intensive care unit patients climbing from 502 to 514. Both are new records, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. The death toll climbed to 1,998. Of the fatalities reported Jan. 8, which all date back to last month, nine were skilled nursing facility residents and three were assisted living facility residents. Since the pandemic began, 673 of the dead were skilled nursing facility residents and 206 were from assisted living facilities. County officials also reported 3,544 new diagnoses of coronavirus Jan. 9, raising the cumulative total to 181,277. There have been 97 fatalities reported this week. The death reports come from a variety of sources, so they are staggered and happened …