The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Sunday confirmed 694 new cases of COVID-19 and 29 new deaths due to the virus countywide, with a total of 958 cases reported and 17 deaths to date in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Of the new cases reported, 14 were in the SCV.

California has 78,839 confirmed cases and 3,261 deaths from COVID-19 as of Saturday, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Local health departments statewide have reported 8,248 confirmed positive cases in healthcare workers and 46 deaths as of May 16 (the number of deaths decreased by one in this reporting period based on verification of data).

L.A. County Public Health reported the 17 Santa Clarita Valley fatalities Friday in a detailed breakdown by geographic location, which the department had not done previously.

Of the 17 people who died in the SCV, 15 were residents of the city of Santa Clarita, one of Acton, and one of Castaic.

Countywide, 24 people who died were over 65 years old, four people who died were between 41 to 65 years old and one person between 18 to 40 years old. Sixteen people had underlying health conditions including 14 people over 65 years old, one person between 41 to 65 years old and one person between 18 to 40 years old.

Upon further investigation, 23 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

To date, Public Health has identified 37,974 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 1,821 deaths. Ninety-two percent of people who died had underlying health conditions.

As of Sunday, 5,816 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (16% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,648 people currently hospitalized; 26% of them are in the ICU and 19% are on ventilators.

Santa Clarita Valley Sunday Update
Of the 958 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 579

Castaic: 276 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility)

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 33

Stevenson Ranch: 28

Val Verde: 14

Acton: 10

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 7

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 4

Agua Dulce: 4

Elizabeth Lake 3

Henry Mayo Sunday Update
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital switched reporting COVID-19 cases once a week, on Wednesdays, spokesman Patrick Moody said.

As of Wednesday, May 13, of the 1,106 persons tested at Henry Mayo to date, 182 tested positive, 1,007 were negative, 28 were pending and 12 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care. Sixty-two COVID-19 patients have been discharged.

On Wednesday, Moody confirmed the seventh death at the hospital from COVID-19.

Discrepancies in the testing numbers are due to some patients being tested more than once, Moody said.

Testing – L.A. County
Testing capacity continues to increase in L.A. County, with testing results available for over 309,000 individuals and 11% of people testing positive.

L.A. County Demographics
Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 1,688 people (99 percent of the cases); 39% of deaths occurred among Latinx residents, 29% among White residents, 18% among Asian residents, 12% among African American residents, 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.

Updated L.A. County Health Officer Order

The Health Officer Order issued earlier this week replaced the previous Health Officer Order and allows for retailers and manufacturers, select recreational facilities, and beaches to reopen.

All retailers can reopen for curbside, door-side, outside pickup, or delivery only and manufacturing and logistic businesses that supply retail businesses can also reopen.

Before retail businesses, manufacturing and logistic businesses reopen, they are required to prepare, implement and post their plan for adhering to directives including distancing and infection control practices that protect both employees and customers.

Select recreational facilities, community gardens, and beaches for active recreation are now open.

Everyone must continue to practice staying at least six feet apart and wearing a clean cloth face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when you are in contact with other people not in your household.

This Order continues to require that specific higher-risk businesses remain closed and prohibits public and private gatherings of any number of people outside of a single household unit.

“To the many people experiencing the profound sadness of losing someone they love to COVID-19, we are deeply sorry. You are in our thoughts and prayers through these difficult times,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.

“More people will be out of their homes now that we are in the early stages of our recovery journey, and this means there will be more chances of coming in contact with asymptomatic people who are infected with COVID-19,” Ferrer said. “If you have an underlying health condition – like chronic lung disease, asthma, a serious heart condition, HIV, or another condition that affects your immune system – it is so important that you continue to do your best to stay home as much as possible, avoid close contact with others, and if you begin to feel sick contact your provider immediately. It’s also a good idea to talk to employers and friends and let them know you are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.”

Public Health will assess the activities allowed by the Order on an ongoing basis and modify the Order as appropriate. Residents will also be able to track progress on the Recovery Dashboard. Currently, L.A. County is in stage two of the five-stage Roadmap to Recovery and until the final stage five is reached, Health Officer Orders and directives will continue to ensure that we slow the spread of COVID-19 to prevent an overwhelming surge of COVID-19 cases at healthcare facilities.

County Interactive Dashboard
An interactive dashboard is available that provides an overview on COVID-19 testing, cases and deaths along with maps and graphs showing testing, cases and death data by community poverty level, age, sex and race/ethnicity. Visit Public Health’s COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard here.

The Health Officer Order, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website.

California Sunday Update

As testing capacity continues to increase across the state, the California Department of Public Health is working to expand access to COVID-19 testing. Testing should be used for medical evaluation of persons with symptoms of COVID-19 as well as for efforts by public health agencies and essential employers to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19.

As of May 16, there have been 1,235,243 tests conducted in California and reported to the CDPH. This represents an increase of 56,117 tests over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

These numbers include data from commercial, private and academic labs, including Quest, LabCorp, Kaiser, University of California and Stanford, and the 25 state and county health labs currently testing.

California Demographics
Health outcomes are affected by forces including structural racism, poverty and the disproportionate prevalence of underlying conditions such as asthma and heart disease among Latinos and African American Californians.

The differences in health outcomes related to COVID-19 are most stark in COVID-19 deaths. We have nearly complete data on race and ethnicity for COVID-19 deaths, and we are seeing the following trends.

Overall, for adults 18 and older, Latinos, African Americans and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are dying at disproportionately higher levels. The proportion of COVID-19 deaths in African Americans is about double their population representation across all adult age categories. For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, overall numbers are low, but there is nearly a four-fold difference between the proportion of COVID-19 deaths and their population representation. More males are dying from COVID-19 than females, in line with national trends.

More information is available at COVID-19 Race and Ethnicity Data.

California continues to issue guidance on preparing and protecting California from COVID-19. Visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) in California and California Department of Public Health COVID-19 Guidance.

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Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about novel coronavirus:

– Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

– California Department of Public Health

– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

– Spanish

– World Health Organization

L.A. County residents can also call 2-1-1.