The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has identified 37,303 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of the county, including 944 in the Santa Clarita Valley, and a total of 1,793 deaths countywide.

Public Health has confirmed 40 new deaths and 1,073 new cases in the last 24 hours. Thirty-three of the people who died were over age 65, nine were between the ages of 41 and 65, and one person was between the ages of 18 and 40. Thirty-four people had underlying health conditions including 25 people over age 65 , eight people 41-65 years old, and one person between the ages of 18 and 40.

Overall to date, 92 percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 1,659 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. Upon further investigation, 29 cases and two deaths reported earlier were not LA County residents. Three previously reported Long Beach deaths were dropped from the report after investigation.

As of today, 5,784 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (16 percent of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,648 people who are currently hospitalized, 26% 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 298,000 individuals and 11% of people testing positive.

“Our hearts go out to everyone who has lost someone they love to COVID-19. We share in your sorrow, and wish you healing and peace,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health. “As more places re-open in L.A. County, I want to thank all of you who have done your part to slow the spread of COVID-19. We will all need to continue to work together on this, including practicing physical distancing and wearing our cloth face coverings when we are around other people. These actions work – they protect you, they protect others, and they save lives.”

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.

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, LA 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.

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.  To view Public Health’s COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard, visit: http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/.

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, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

The best protection against COVID-19 is 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. 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.