The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 1,072 new cases of COVID-19 and 35 new deaths due to the virus countywide, with a total of 1,034 cases reported in the Santa Clarita Valley since the pandemic began.

The county reported 14 new COVID-19 cases in the SCV, but no new deaths. To date, 18 people have died of the virus in the valley (15 in Santa Clarita, 1 in Acton, 1 in Castaic, and 1 in a community not yet named).

To date, Public Health has identified 43,052 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 2,049 deaths.

Upon further investigation, 24 cases reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

California has 88,444 confirmed cases and 3,630 deaths from COVID-19 as of May 21, including 8,902 positive cases and 49 deaths among healthcare workers, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The statewide number of COVID-related deaths increased by 2.5 percent from Wednesday’s total of 3,542.

Santa Clarita Valley Friday Update
Of the 1,034 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 632

Castaic: 292 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility)

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 34

Stevenson Ranch: 29

Val Verde: 16

Acton: 10

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

Agua Dulce: 6

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 4

Elizabeth Lake 3

Lake Hughes 1

Henry Mayo Friday Update
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital is now releasing numbers on a weekly basis (Wednesdays), unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a death has been confirmed, hospital spokesman Patrick Moody said.

As of Wednesday, May 20, of the 1,332 persons tested at Henry Mayo to date, 197 tested positive, 1,245 were negative, 35 were pending and 14 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care. A total of 68 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far.

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

Eight of the SCV’s 18 fatalities to date have occurred at Henry Mayo, Moody confirmed Monday.

L.A. County Demographics
Countywide, 25 people who died were over the age of 65 years old and five people who died were between the ages of 41 to 65 years old. Twenty-three people had underlying health conditions including 20 people over the age of 65 years old and three people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old. Three deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach and two deaths were reported by the City of Pasadena.

Ninety-two percent of people who died had underlying health conditions.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 1,863 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health) 39% of deaths occurred among Latinx residents, 29% among White residents, 17% among Asian residents, 12% among African American residents, 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.

Public Health continues to track health outcomes by race, ethnicity and income level data of people who have been tested, hospitalized and died from COVID-19. African Americans, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, and people living in communities with high levels of poverty continue to have the highest rate of death per 100,000 people for COVID-19 when compared to other groups.

While actual numbers for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders individuals are small, they have a death rate between 53 and 154 per 100,000. African Americans have a death of 26 per 100,000, and people living in communities with high levels of poverty have a death rate of 41 per 100,000. These rates are significantly higher than the death rate of other races and ethnicities. The death rate for people who identify as Latinx is 22 per 100,00, for Asian is 16 per 100,000, and for White is 13 per 100,000.

Public Health continues collaboration with community, healthcare, and philanthropic partners to improve testing, connection to care and communications to the communities experiencing these inequitable outcomes.

L.A. County Testing
As of Friday, 6,093 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (14% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,506 people who are currently hospitalized, 26% of these people are in the ICU and 19% are on ventilators.

Testing capacity continues to increase in L.A. County, with testing results available for over 403,000 individuals and 9% of people testing positive.

Public Health Director
“To those of you who are suffering and grieving because of the loss of a loved one to COVID-19, we offer you our deepest condolences. We are thinking of you every day,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “As more businesses and spaces are open, as individuals and institutions, we can take care of each other by continuing to practice physical distancing, wearing cloth face coverings, and following all of the directives for safer practices at businesses and in public spaces. We can do this, because we’ve done it. We have worked together doing our part to save lives.”

New Infections Decreasing
Staying home, physical distancing and wearing cloth face coverings has resulted in a decreased number of new infections. Based on data from the Recovery Dashboard and key recovery indicators, Public Health is noting that the 7-day average of deaths per day decreased for most groups and the 3-day average for the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 also decreased.

The 7-day average of deaths per day is 37, a 12% decrease from the prior 7-day average. The 3-day average for current hospitalizations per day is 1,532, a 15% decrease from the prior 3-day average. L.A. County is on target for maintaining adequate hospital capacity, including capacity in intensive care units and adequate numbers of ventilators, and approaching the goal of testing 15,000 people per day. The county is also on target for contacting tracing and other indicators found on the Recovery Dashboard.

As the recovery journey continues and more people are out of their homes, it may be more difficult to slow the spread of COVID-19. Because there is a 14-day incubation period for COVID-19, the actions everyone takes today will impact where these numbers are in two or three weeks.

Everyone must continue to follow distancing and infection control protocols, stay at least six feet apart and wear a clean cloth face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when in contact with other people not in your household. Businesses will need to continue to implement their physical distancing and infection control practices that protect both employees and customers.

The best protection against COVID-19 continues to be to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, self-isolate if you are sick, practice physical distancing (especially by staying at home) and wear a clean face covering when in contact with others from outside your household.

Current County Health Orders
Current Health Officer Orders allow for retailers and manufacturers, select recreational facilities, and beaches to reopen and require specific higher-risk businesses to remain closed.

Retailers remain closed to public entry, beaches are open for active recreation only, and public and private gatherings of any number of people outside of a single household unit are still not permitted. 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 spread of COVID-19 to prevent an overwhelming surge of COVID-19 cases at healthcare facilities.

People who have underlying health conditions remain at much greater risk for serious illness from COVID-19, so it will continue to be very important for the county’s vulnerable residents to stay at home as much as possible, to have groceries and medicine delivered, and to call their providers immediately if they have even mild symptoms.

The Health Officer Order, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, 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, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

New State Data Portal
The state has launched a new, user-friendly data portal at COVID-19 Statewide Update that tracks COVID-19 cases statewide and by county, gender, age and ethnicity.

The portal also outlines statewide hospitalizations and testing efforts.

The data presented on the portal will be updated daily and will include additional information as it is available.

As of May 21, 1,466,773 tests have been conducted in California and reported to the California Department of Public Health. This represents an increase of 45,645 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.

For more information about what Californians can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19, visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) in California.

California continues to issue guidance on preparing and protecting California from COVID-19. Consolidated guidance is available on the California Department of Public Health’s Guidance webpage.