The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Friday 1,824 new cases of COVID-19 and 50 new deaths due to the virus countywide, and a total of 1,306 cases reported in the Santa Clarita Valley since the pandemic began, 122 more than reported Thursday.

Some of the new cases reported are from a backlog of test results, according to Public Health officials.

To date, 20 people have died of the virus in the SCV — 15 resided in the city of Santa Clarita, 1 in Acton, 1 in Castaic, and 3 in communities not yet named.

Countywide, Public Health has reported 51,562 positive cases of COVID-19 and a total of 2,290 deaths as of Friday.

Ninety-three percent of people who died in L.A. County had underlying health conditions.

Statewide, California had 103,886 total confirmed cases and 4,068 deaths from COVID-19 as of May 28. There were 3,016 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,078 ICU hospitalizations.

Santa Clarita Valley Friday Update
Of the 1,306 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 734

Castaic: 442 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility)

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 37

Stevenson Ranch: 34

Val Verde: 23

Acton: 11

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

Agua Dulce: 8

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 4

Elizabeth Lake: 3

Bouquet Canyon: 1

Lake Hughes: 1

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 1

Henry Mayo Friday Update
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported its 9th and 10th COVID-related deaths on Wednesday, both occurring in the last 36 hours, according to hospital spokesman Patrick Moody.

As of Wednesday, of the 1,555 persons tested at Henry Mayo to date, 208 tested positive, 1,289 were negative, 42 were pending and 9 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care. A total of 73 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.

Ten of the SCV’s 20 fatalities to date have occurred at Henry Mayo, Moody confirmed Wednesday.

The 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, Moody said.

L.A. County Demographics
Thirty-three people who died were over the age of 65 years old; 13 people who died were between the ages of 41 and 65 years old, and four people who died were between the ages of 18 and 40 years old. Forty people had underlying health conditions including 30 people over the age of 65 years old, seven people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old, and three people between the ages of 18 and 40 years old.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 2,112 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health) 40% of deaths occurred among Latino/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.

Upon further investigation, 36 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

L.A. County Testing
As of Friday, 6,430 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (13% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,462 people who are currently hospitalized, 27% of these people are in the ICU and 20% are on ventilators. Testing capacity continues to increase in LA County, with testing results available for over 564,000 individuals and 8% of people testing positive.

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

“So many people in our community are experiencing loss and sorrow during this pandemic. We think of you every day, and we are deeply sorry for your loss,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.

“As we enter the weekend, and are perhaps out of our homes and visiting businesses and public spaces, please remember that practicing physical distancing and wearing a cloth face covering when you are around other people are the tools we have to prevent further spread of the virus,” Ferrer said.

“For businesses, the implementation of directives in the protocols for reopening are the most effective strategy for protecting employees and customers. These actions are essential for slowing the spread and preventing many people from becoming seriously ill and requiring hospitalization. They are essential for saving lives.”

Now that the variance has been granted by the state, Public Health will be amending the current Health Officer Order, Safer at Work and in the Community, to allow for restaurants and hair salons to reopen only with the proper distancing and infection control protocols in place.

All businesses must adhere to distancing and infection control protocols that provide safety for employees, customers and the county’s most vulnerable residents before reopening.

These protocols were developed to guide reopening and are available online.

Inspectors will continue to monitor for compliance and ensure that all adhere to the Health Officer Order. Higher-risk businesses remain closed.

As the recovery journey continues, more people being around one another may result in more transmission of COVID-19, more cases, and more hospitalizations and deaths. The actions everyone takes today will impact where numbers are in two or three weeks.

Everyone must continue to follow distancing and infection control protocols 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.

Public Health will assess the activities allowed by the Order on an ongoing basis. 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.

Best Protection
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, and to practice physical distancing and wear a clean face covering when in contact with others from outside your household.

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.

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.

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.

Here’s the L.A. County Public Health incident report for May 29, 2020:

[Open .pdf in new window]

California Demographics
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.

Testing in California
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 28, 1,835,478 tests have been conducted in California and reported to the CDPH, an increase of 44,919 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 the 25 state and county health labs currently testing.

New 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.