The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Monday 9 new deaths, including one additional death at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and 516 new cases countywide of COVID-19, with 27,017 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The lower number of deaths and cases may reflect reporting delays over the weekend. To date, Public Health identified 1,214,683 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 22,806 deaths.

Health Officer Order Modifications:
Public Health made additional modifications to the Health Officer Order. The revised Order was issued on March 19, and took effect on March 20, with the following changes:

– Breweries, Wineries and Craft Distilleries that do not provide a meal may open for outdoor service only with certain restrictions, including:

– All guests must have reservations;

– Guests are limited to a 90-minute time limit for their visit;

– Guests must be seated at tables before they place their order, and are not permitted to stand or congregate with others;

– And hours are limited with service for on-site consumption closing by 8:00 pm.

Breweries, Wineries, and Craft Distilleries that serve a bona fide meal can be open for indoor dining operations at 25% of indoor capacity and must follow the same modifications required of restaurants.

Clarity for certain types of businesses that serve the public but are not typical retail establishments, such as non-school learning centers, bank and credit union branches, check cashing services, tax preparation, auto repair, auto dealerships, and dry cleaners. These types of limited services businesses are now permitted for indoor operations with modifications at 50% capacity.

For mental health, support groups, and spiritual counseling, the number of in-person participants increases from 10 to 12 participants to make this type of support more accessible to those in the community. Public Health still encourages services to be provided remotely when at all possible.

For office-based worksites, businesses that must open indoors for essential operations that cannot be done remotely must also limit indoor capacity to 50% of maximum occupancy.

Youth and Recreational Sports

For youth and adult recreational sports, the County is aligning with State to allow for indoor sports to engage in indoor activities, including training, conditioning, contact practice and competition if they adhere to State requirements.

– Limiting any indoor sports activities to 10% of indoor occupancy; observers are not permitted for any youth or adult indoor sports activities, including competitions;
– Regular testing of players, coaches, and staff;
– Development and implementation of a Return to Play Safety Plan and a Site-Specific Safety Plan. Plans must be filed with Public Health 14-days prior to indoor activity.

Businesses and sectors must follow all safety measures and protocols. The updated protocols can be found online at www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

Updated Grades K-12 Protocols

Public Health is updating the Protocols for grades K through 12 schools to align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health on the required distancing in schools, with additional recommendations. Schools are strongly recommended to maximize distance between student seating maintaining 3 feet minimum distance at all times. It is important that schools implement critical mitigation layers including required masking, stable groups, and maintaining 6 feet of distance as much as possible during activities where students are not wearing masks, such as eating and drinking. There continues to be a requirement of a minimum of 6 feet of distance between teachers and other desks from students and other staff.

California Monday Snapshot

Update to Youth Recreational Activities: Band, Drumline, Choir & Drama

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) updated guidelines to allow band, drumline, choir and drama as low-contact youth recreational activities under the state’s youth and adult recreational sports guidelines. In addition, updated guidance on spectators for youth and adult recreational sports is being developed. The youth and adult recreational sports FAQ has been updated.

Statewide, CDPH confirmed Monday a total of 3,547,278, with 56,545 deaths from the disease. There are 2,605 confirmed hospitalizations and 674 ICU hospitalizations in California.

Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed.

There were 2,000 newly recorded confirmed cases Sunday.

The 7-day positivity rate is 1.7%.

There have been 52,416,454 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 212,625 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.

As of March 22, providers have reported administering a total of 14,819,755 vaccine doses statewide. The CDC reports that 18,234,500 doses have been delivered to entities within the state. Numbers do not represent true day-to-day change as reporting may be delayed. For more vaccination data, visit the COVID-19 Vaccine Data Dashboard.

Health Care Worker Infection Rates
As of March 21, local health departments have reported 100,864 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 439 deaths statewide.

Santa Clarita Valley Monday Update
As of 5:30 p.m. Monday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard recorded 284 deaths among Santa Clarita Valley residents since the pandemic began.

The following is the community breakdown of the SCV residents who have died, according to the L.A. County dashboard:

241 lived in Santa Clarita

18 in Castaic

7 in Acton

4 in Stevenson Ranch

3 in Agua Dulce

3 in unincorporated Canyon Country

2 in Valencia

1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon

1 in Elizabeth Lake

1 in Lake Hughes

1 in Newhall

1 in unincorporated Saugus/Canyon Country

1 in Val Verde

Of the 27,017 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 19,773

Castaic: 3,663

(includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 1,101

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 813

Acton: 458

Val Verde: 326

Agua Dulce: 264

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 185

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 132

Elizabeth Lake: 75

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 67

Bouquet Canyon: 47

Lake Hughes: 41

Saugus/Canyon Country: 39

Sand Canyon: 17

San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon: 15

Placerita Canyon: 1

*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.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Monday Update
The hospital recorded its 147th COVID-19 death Monday, hospital spokesman Patrick Moody said.

As of Monday, there are zero cases pending, five patients are hospitalized in a dedicated COVID-19 unit receiving ICU-level care, and a total of 1,183 patients have been treated and discharged.

Henry Mayo releases complete statistics weekly, usually on Wednesdays, unless one or more new deaths occur.

Privacy laws prohibit the hospital from releasing the community of residence for patients who die there; that info is reported by the L.A. County Public Health COVID-19 dashboard, which generally lags 48 hours behind.

L.A. County

The seven-day average number of daily cases by episode date continues to decrease, and as of March 14 is under 500 new cases per day.

As of March 18, approximately 1,984,738 persons who reside in Los Angeles County have been vaccinated with at least one dose of vaccine since January 1. While the majority of the L.A. County population has not yet been vaccinated, the increasing rate of vaccination likely is beginning to reduce transmission.

There are 750 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 25% of these people are in the ICU. Testing results are available for nearly 6,018,000 individuals with 19% of people testing positive. Monday’s daily test positivity rate is 1.5%.

Of the nine new deaths reported Monday, five people that passed away were over the age of 80, one person who died was between the ages of 65 and 79, one person who died was between the ages of 50 and 64, and two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49.

“Our deepest condolences go out to those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. We share your grief,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Spring officially began this past weekend. Like so many of you, I am eagerly awaiting warmer weather and clearer skies. We have a beautiful county, and I encourage you all to enjoy everything it has to offer while remaining masked and physically distanced. For recreational travelers and residents coming to L.A. County, please note, you are required to self-quarantine for 10 days after you return from out of state or out of country travel to protect our community from inadvertent transmission of the virus from travelers. We strongly recommend that those who traveled and during their travels were in crowds, exposed to unmasked individuals in close proximity, or attended gatherings, get tested on their return. This is particularly important for those who traveled to places with high rates of community transmission, like Miami, which reported a 9% test positivity rate; this is 6 times higher than the test positivity rate in L.A. County. Please remember how easily this virus can spread and take every action you can to protect yourself others until we all can get vaccinated.”

Nearly 3,235,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to people across Los Angeles County. Of those vaccinated, 1,057,794 people received second doses.

Currently, people who are eligible for the vaccine include healthcare workers, residents and staff at long-term care facilities, residents who are age 65 or older, education and childcare workers, food and agriculture workers, emergency service workers and law enforcement, people with serious health conditions or disabilities, people who live or work in high risk congregate living spaces (shelters, jails, and residential behavioral health programs), janitorial, custodial, and maintenance services workers, and people who work in the transportation and logistics.

Our allocation for this week is slightly higher than last week. Last week, we received over 259,000 doses, none of which were Johnson & Johnson. This week, we received 6,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Unfortunately, our efforts are being slowed by the lack of vaccine supply. This week alone there are over 633,000 appointment slots available, and we only have enough doses for about 280,000 appointments. We hope that supply will increase in the coming weeks and allow us to vaccinate even more people.

Mobile vaccine teams are deploying to the hardest hit communities, with a priority of vaccinating residents 65 and older. More than 80 mobile vaccination teams are scheduled to administer vaccinations this week at senior housing sites, senior centers, faith-based organizations and community-based organizations. These mobile sites are critical to our effort to vaccinate hard hit communities with either lower vaccination rates or lack of access. In the coming weeks, an additional 150 mobile vaccinations sites are scheduled throughout our county.

For information about vaccine appointments in L.A. County and when your turn is coming up, to sign up for a vaccination newsletter, and much more, visit www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish).

The Reopening Protocols, 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.

California Monday

Note: Due to a data transfer issue, the number of new deaths reported on Friday and Saturday were incomplete or appeared negative. This issue has been corrected and as a result, the number of new deaths reported Monday is correspondingly high (427).

Tracking Variants

Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been identified globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. These genetic mutations are expected, and some emerge and then disappear, while others persist or become common. Most variants do not have a meaningful impact. Public health becomes concerned about a variant when it affects COVID-19 transmission, severity, testing, treatment or vaccine effectiveness. Get more information on the variants CDPH is currently monitoring.

Blueprint for a Safer Economy
With the Regional Stay at Home Order rescinded statewide as of Jan. 25, all counties are now under the rules and framework of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy and color-coded tiers that indicate which activities and businesses are open based on local case rates and test positivity. CDPH modified Blueprint thresholds on March 12 after the state successfully met its first vaccine equity milestone of 2 million administered vaccine doses in some of the state’s hardest hit communities.

Blueprint Summary as of March 16

11 counties in the Purple (widespread) Tier

42 counties in the Red (substantial) Tier

4 counties in Orange (moderate) Tier

1 county in the Yellow (minimal) Tier

Blueprint tiers are updated weekly on Tuesdays. Find the status of activities in specific counties.

Additional Date and Updates

County Map – Local data, including tier status and ICU capacity

Data and Tools – Models and dashboards for researchers, scientists and the public

Blueprint for a Safer Economy – Data for establishing tier status

Updated Travel Advisory
CDPH has issued an updated travel advisory. Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. Non-essential travelers from other states or countries are strongly discouraged from entering California and should adhere to the state’s self-quarantine procedures for 10 days.

Safe Schools for All Plan
Gov. Newsom released his California’s Safe Schools for All plan, California’s framework to support schools to continue operating safely in person and to expand the number of schools safely resuming in-person instruction.

Vaccinate All 58
The COVID-19 shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in California, and additional shipments will continue to arrive throughout this week. The first doses are being administered to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. The state is working closely with community partners and stakeholders to help ensure the vaccine is distributed and administered equitably across California. For more information, visit the CDPH COVID-19 Vaccine webpage and Vaccinate All 58.

New Testing Turnaround Time Dashboard
The testing turnaround dashboard reports how long California patients are waiting for COVID-19 test results. California has worked to reduce testing turnaround times in recent weeks to help curb the spread of the virus. During the week of March 7 – March 13, the average time patients waited for test results was one day. During this same time period, 81% of patients received test results in one day and 95% received them within two days.

Data and Tools
A wide range of data and analysis guides California’s response to COVID-19. The state is making the data and its analytical tools available to researchers, scientists and the public at covid19.ca.gov.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
As of March 15, 380 cases Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) have been reported statewide. MIS-C is a rare inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that can damage multiple organ systems. MIS-C can require hospitalization and be life threatening.

MIS-C is a rare inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that can damage multiple organ systems. MIS-C can require hospitalization and be life threatening. Parents should be aware of the signs and symptoms of MIS-C including fever that does not go away, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes or feeling tired. Contact your child’s doctor immediately if your child has these symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment of patients is critical to preventing long-term complications.

New Health Equity Dashboard
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted existing inequities in health that are the result of structural racism and poverty, and the disproportionate prevalence of underlying conditions such as asthma and heart disease among Latinos and African Americans. As part of its commitment to reduce health inequities and ensure the best outcomes for all Californians, the state has launched a Health Equity Dashboard on www.covid19.ca.gov. View COVID-19 Race & Ethnicity Data and Cases and Deaths by Age Group.

Popular links include:

– The Statewide COVID-19 Dashboard

– The California COVID-19 Assessment Tool (CalCAT)

– State Cases and Deaths Associated with COVID-19 by Age Group

– COVID-19 Race & Ethnicity Data

– COVID-19 Hospital Data and Case Statistics

– View additional datasets at the California Open Data Portal (Including: Testing Data, PPE Logistics Data, Hospital Data, Homeless Impact and more)

Your Actions Save Lives
California is experiencing the fastest increase in cases we have seen yet – faster than what we experienced at the outset of the pandemic and this summer. If COVID-19 continues to spread at this rate, it could quickly overwhelm our health care system and lead to catastrophic outcomes. Protect yourself, family, friends and community by following these prevention measures:

– Staying home except for essential needs/activities and following local and state public health guidelines when visiting businesses that are open.

– Following the Limited Stay at Home Order that requires allnon-essential work and activities to stop between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in counties in the purple tier. The order took effect at 10 p.m. Saturday, November 21, and will remain in effect until 5 a.m. December 21.

– Staying close to home, avoiding non-essential travel, and practicing self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival if you leave the state.

– Keeping gatherings small, short and outdoors and limiting them to those who live in your household.

– Wearing a cloth face mask when out in public.

– Washing hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds.

– Avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.

– Covering a cough or sneeze with your sleeve, or disposable tissue. Wash your hands afterward.

– Avoiding close contact with people who are sick.

– Staying away from work, school or other people if you become sick with respiratory symptoms like fever and cough.

– Following guidance from public health officials.

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.

What to Do if You Think You’re Sick
Call ahead: If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough or shortness of breath), call your health care provider before seeking medical care so that appropriate precautions can be taken. More than 85 community testing sites also offer free, confidential testing: Find a COVID-19 Testing Site.

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.