The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 287 new laboratory confirmed cases and three new deaths from COVID-19 in the Santa Clarita Valley within the last week.

Public Health is now reporting COVID-19 data once a week. This is the most recent data from Dec. 28.

This new data brings Los Angeles County death totals to 37,109 case totals to 3,843,107 and Santa Clarita Valley case totals to 103,504 since March of 2020. SCV deaths from COVID-19 now stand at 585.

Transmission, Hospitalizations Indicate Need for Common-Sense Protections Against Infection

Over the past week in Los Angeles County, there have been notable, yet not unexpected, increases in COVID-19 reported cases, hospitalizations and deaths. While recent increases are significant, they remain considerably below last winter’s peak and common-sense protections are strongly recommended to help curb transmission and severe illness as the new year begins.

Since last week, the reported daily average of COVID-19 cases has increased by more than 25 percent, from 495 to 621. This number is an undercount due to the large number of home test results for COVID-19 that are not reported to Public Health. The daily average of COVID-positive hospitalizations increased by nearly 15 percent over the same time period, from 604 to 686, and the Hospital Admission Level for the county, reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), increased from 6.5 to 8.3 new COVID-19 hospitalization admissions per 100,000 people for data through Dec. 16. Sadly, there has also been an appreciable increase in the daily average deaths due to COVID-19. This week Public Health is reporting a daily average of 5 deaths, an increase from 2 earlier this month on Dec. 6.

To help stem the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses, residents should prioritize common-sense precautions to protect themselves and others. Stay home if you are sick and test if you have symptoms or were exposed to COVID-19, especially when visiting with people who are more vulnerable to severe illness due to age or underlying health conditions. Wash your hands often and a well-fitted, high-quality mask can help protect against transmission in crowded indoor spaces, including airports, train stations or places with poor ventilation.

If Los Angeles County residents have questions about COVID-19, flu or RSV, including where to get vaccinated and how or when to test for COVID-19, the Public Health InfoLine is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, with the exception of Jan. 1, at 1-833-540-0473.

Public Health reports COVID-19 data weekly. The following table shows case, wastewater, emergency department, hospitalization, and death data in Los Angeles County over the past four weeks.

Metric Date of Weekly Report

All daily averages are 7-day averages. Data for past weeks are subject to change in future reports. Time periods covered by each metric: cases = week ending each Saturday; wastewater = week ending each Saturday, with a one-week lag; ED data = week ending each Sunday; hospitalizations = week ending each Saturday; deaths = week ending each Monday, with a three-week lag; death percentage = week ending Monday, with a one-week lag.

Case data is presented by episode date, an approximation of the date the illness began, and death data is presented by date of death. This is a change from how case and death data were presented prior to July 26, 2023, which was by date of report. Daily average cases do not include Long Beach and Pasadena; daily average deaths include Long Beach and Pasadena.

A wide range of data and dashboards on COVID-19 from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health are available on the Public Health website at http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov including:

COVID-19 Locations & Demographics (data by demographic characteristics and geography, active outbreaks, and citations)

 – COVID-19 Response Plan

 – COVID-19 Vaccinations

 – Skilled Nursing Facility Metrics

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

 – Los Angeles County Department of Public Health: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/

– California Department of Public Health: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/nCOV2019.aspx

– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

– CDC Spanishhttps://espanol.cdc.gov/enes/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

– World Health Organization https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

– LA County residents can also call 2-1-1

William S. Hart Union High School District COVID-19 Dashboard

Since the State of Emergency has been lifted, the William S. Hart Union High School District will no longer be posting dashboard information.

Santa Clarita Valley Update

The L.A. County Public Health dashboard reported one additional death from COVID-19 in Acton and one new death in Lake Hughes, bringing the total number of deaths in the SCV to 579.

NOTE: As of Dec. 20, 2022, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health switched to a new geocoding process to improve the accuracy and completeness of geocoded data. Geocoding is the process of assigning an address to specific geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude). As a result, approximately 1,500 cases (0.04%) were removed from the cumulative count as they were determined to be out of jurisdiction with the improved geocoding. The switch to this improved process also resulted in minor changes to cumulative case/death counts by Supervisor District, Service Planning Area, city/community, and area poverty categories.

The following is the community breakdown of the 585 deaths in the SCV per L.A. County’s dashboard:

Santa Clarita: 473

Castaic: 34

Acton: 21

Stevenson Ranch: 19

Unincorporated Canyon Country: 11

Agua Dulce: 8

Val Verde: 6

Elizabeth Lake: 4

Lake Hughes: 3

Valencia: 2

Unincorporated Bouquet Canyon: 2

Newhall: 1

Unincorporated Saugus/Canyon Country: 1

SCV Cases

Of the 103,504 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 76,386

*Castaic: 10,059

Stevenson Ranch: 6,269

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 3,917

Acton: 2,105

Val Verde: 1,264

Agua Dulce: 1,030

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 985

Saugus (unincorporated portion):  359

Elizabeth Lake: 302

Bouquet Canyon: 220

Lake Hughes: 211

Saugus/Canyon Country: 153

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 109

Sand Canyon: 64

San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon: 46

Placerita Canyon: 25

*Note: The county is unable to break out separate numbers for Castaic and PDC/NCCF because the county uses geotagging software that cannot be changed at this time, according to officials. Click here for the LASD COVID-19 dashboard.

California By the Numbers

California now reports weekly COVID updates on Fridays. No update was posted on Friday, Dec. 29. The last Update was on Friday, Dec. 22:

For more California data, click [here].