The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Sunday confirmed 781 new cases of COVID-19 and 21 new deaths from the disease, with 508 cases identified to date in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Fifteen people who died were over the age of 65 years old and three people who died were between the ages of 41 to 65 years old. Eleven people had underlying health conditions including 10 people over the age of 65 years old and one person between the ages of 41 to 65 years old. Two deaths were reported by the city of Pasadena and one death by the city of Long Beach.

To date, Public Health has identified 25,662 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 1,229 deaths. Ninety-two percent of people who died had underlying health conditions.

Upon further investigation, 12 cases and one death reported earlier were not LA County residents.

Santa Clarita Valley Sunday Update
Of the 508 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 387

Val Verde: 40

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 25

Castaic: 21

Stevenson Ranch: 17

Acton: 8

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

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 3

Agua Dulce: 1

Elizabeth Lake 1

Henry Mayo Update

“Because the numbers have been relatively stable, we are going to start releasing them weekly, on Wednesdays, instead of daily,” hospital spokesman Patrick Moody said Sunday, adding that if there’s a major spike between Wednesday updates, he will alert media and the public.

The most recent numbers, from Friday, May 1: Of the 769 persons tested at Henry Mayo to date, 149 tested positive, 620 were negative, 8 were pending and 15 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care.

The number of discharged COVID-19 patients was 48, with four deaths recorded at the hospital to date.

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

L.A. County Demographics

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 1,121 people (99 percent of the cases); 38% of deaths occurred among Latinx residents, 29% among White residents, 19% among Asian residents, 13% among African American residents, 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.

African Americans, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 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.

As of Sunday, 4,986 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (20% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. Testing capacity continues to increase in LA County, with testing results available for nearly 159,000 individuals and 14% of people testing positive.

“The people lost to COVID-19 are mourned by all of us in L.A. County, and to their loved ones, we wish you peace and healing,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “We have all worked together in ways that have saved lives and slowed the spread of COVID-19. As we continue to plan for and move into recovery, we will need to continue using the best tools at our disposal, which includes isolating at home if sick, quarantining for 14 days if you’re a close contact to a person positive for COVID-19, always physical distancing, wearing cloth face coverings when in contact with others, and washing hands frequently.”

New CDC Self-Isolation Guidelines

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidance on how long people who are positive for COVID-19 should self-isolate. New evidence suggests it may take longer for the virus to shed, which means that an infected person may be able to infect other people for a longer period of time than was initially thought. People who are positive or presumed positive for COVID-19 should now self-isolate for 10 days and 72 hours after fever and symptoms subside.

This means you must stay home until your fever has resolved without the use of fever-reducing medications and there is improvement in your respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) for at least 3 days (72 hours) after recovery, AND at least 10 days have passed since your symptoms first appeared or you were tested.

If you have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 or is presumed to be infected with COVID-19, you must quarantine for 14 days from your last contact with that individual.

If you begin experiencing symptoms, you must self-isolate for 10 days and 72 hours after fever and symptoms subside. Individuals who are elderly or who have underlying health conditions may be at higher risk of serious illness and should contact their doctor as soon as they are sick.

As Public Health plans on relaxing select directives of the Safer at Home Order, businesses and residents will need to continue to observe and practice physical distancing requirements and infection control precautions. Increased interactions between L.A. County residents and workers can increase the risk and rate of transmission of COVID-19 within the community.

Health Officer orders and directives will still continue to ensure it is safe for as many people to be able to work as possible while still slowing the 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/.

Best Protections

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 out in the public procuring or providing essential services.

N95 and surgical masks should only be used by healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers providing care for people who are ill.

The current Health Officer Order extends the previous Health Officer Order through May 15 and requires essential businesses to provide a cloth face covering for all employees to wear while performing duties that involve contact with other employees and or the public and to post physical distancing plans.

The public is required to wear a face covering to enter essential businesses as well.

For additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community, visit the Public Health website at www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

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.