The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Monday confirmed two new deaths and 1,406 new positive cases of COVID-19, as Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported two additional COVID-related deaths over the weekend.

With 121 new cases reported since Friday, mostly in the city of Santa Clarita, the SCV has now tallied 7,427 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 76 deaths from the virus since March 11, when the World Health Organization declared the pandemic.

The low number of new deaths countywide reported Monday reflects a reporting lag from over the weekend, according to Public Health officials.

L.A. County has counted 7,076 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 310,595 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of the county to date. Upon further investigation, one case reported earlier was not a county resident.

“We send our deepest sympathies to everyone who is mourning a loved one or friend who has passed away from COVID-19. You are in our thoughts every day,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of L.A. County Public Health.

There are 777 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 countywide, and 29% of them are in the ICU.

Test results are available for more than 3,160,000 county residents, with 9% of all people testing positive.

See more L.A. County updates later in this report.

California Monday Snapshot

Statewide, as of Sunday, November 1, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 930,628 COVID-19 cases (up 4,094), with 17,672 deaths from the disease (up 5).

There are 2,537 confirmed hospitalizations and 708 ICU hospitalizations in the state, an upward trend.

California’s 7-day positivity rate is 3.2% and the 14-day positivity rate is 3.2%, an upward trend.

As of November 1, local health departments have reported 44,787 confirmed positive cases in healthcare workers and 205 deaths statewide.

There have been 18,912,501 COVID-19 tests conducted in California, an increase of 169,186 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

Numbers do not represent true day-over-day change as these results include cases from prior to yesterday.

See more California info later in this report.

COVID Worldwide: Europe Locks Down Again; Latest U.S. Surge is Worst Yet

Worldwide, 46,818,512 people have been infected by COVID-19 while 1,204,165 people have died as of 12:24 Monday afternoon Pacific Time, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Lockdowns are becoming Europe’s weapon of last resort as it fights a surge of the novel coronavirus, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson becoming the latest leader to announce a national lockdown, Courthouse News Service reports.

Screencap from the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering COVID-19 dashboard, showing COVID cases reported by health agencies in the United States as of Monday afternoon, November 2, 2020.

More than 9,254,287 Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, while the number of people in the U.S. who have died due to the virus has surpassed 231,320.

More daily cases are being reported in the U.S. now than at any time since the pandemic began, as the graph shows.

With 4.25% of the world’s population (328.2 million) and more than 20% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases, the U.S. also continues to lead the world in deaths.

By comparison, No. 2 Brazil (population 209.5 million) has a death toll of 160,074 and slowing. India (population 1.353 billion) is No. 2 in cases, with 8,229,313 confirmed cases and 122,607 deaths as of Monday afternoon.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Monday Update
Two patients died over the weekend at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, according to alerts from hospital communications chief Marlee Lauffer, sitting in for spokesman Patrick Moody. That brings the hospital’s COVID-19 death toll to 32.

Privacy laws prohibit the hospital from releasing the community of residence for patients who die; that info is reported by L.A. County Public Health.

Henry Mayo releases complete statistics weekly, generally on Wednesdays.

As of Wednesday, October 28, of the 10,109 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 1,027 tested positive, 12,066 were negative, 14 were pending, 15 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (up three from the previous Wednesday), and a total of 299 COVID-19 patients have been treated and discharged so far.

Discrepancies in the testing numbers at the hospital are due to some patients being tested multiple times.

Santa Clarita Valley Monday Update

As of 8 p.m. Saturday, October 31, the latest update to its COVID-19 data dashboard, L.A. County Public Health reported 74 deaths in the Santa Clarita Valley since the pandemic began, but had not yet added the two new deaths at Henry Mayo.

Of the 76 SCV residents who have died to date, 61 lived in the city of Santa Clarita (adjusted from 60 previously reported), 4 in Castaic (adjusted from 5 previously reported), 2 in Acton, 3 in Stevenson Ranch, 1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon, 1 in Val Verde, 1 in unincorporated Valencia, and 2 in communities not yet named.

Of the 7,427 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 4,465

Castaic: 2,197 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 203

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 177

Val Verde: 103

Acton: 86

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 53

Agua Dulce: 38

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 38

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 27

Saugus/Canyon Country: 11

Bouquet Canyon: 10

Elizabeth Lake: 9

Sand Canyon: 7

Lake Hughes: 5

San Francisquito/Couquet 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.

Increased Gatherings Driving Rise in Cases

Public Health cautions residents that attending gatherings, even small ones, are extremely risky and can easily result in increased transmission of the virus.

The University of Southern California’s Center for Social and Economic Research conducts a weekly representative survey with L.A. County residents about their actions through the pandemic.

As cases increase in the county, survey respondents have also indicated increases in close contact between residents from different households and gatherings. This includes going to a reunion, wedding, funeral, birthday party, concert, or religious service or going to a friend, neighbor, or relative’s house or having visitors at their house.

Since April there has been a 57% increase in people reporting close contact with people they don’t live with. More than 10% of respondents reported they had been at a gathering of more than 10 people in the last 7 days.

For perspective, if 10% of L.A. County residents attend gatherings, this translates to 1 million people gathering with others not in their household. And if we assume that about 2% are infected, we could possibly have 20,000 people capable of infecting others at gatherings each week.

When combining information from the USC survey with information about exposures that are gathered through contact tracing, it points to increased gatherings being one of the drivers of the recent surge in cases in L.A. County.

“With our cases already increasing, we are concerned about the coming months – holiday gatherings and cooler weather where people are more likely to gather indoors are perfect conditions for spreading COVID-19,” L.A. County Public Health’s Barbara Ferrer said.

“While it is easy to believe that the virus won’t spread among your friends and family, there are so many examples that prove otherwise,” she said. “Unfortunately, with just one infected person at a well-intentioned gathering, dozens and dozens of people can become infected over weeks and weeks of virus transmission. Some people will become seriously ill, and some may even die.”

Voters can drop-off ballots or vote in person before Nov. 3. | Photo: Los Angeles County.

Voting Safely in L.A. County

L.A. County has planned for ways for residents to vote safely. Public Health reminds residents who intend to vote in-person on Tuesday to take the following safety precautions:

* Wear a face covering

* Practice physical distancing in line and at voting booths

* Bring hand sanitizer

* Avoid crowds

* Vote by mail or drop off a completed ballot at an official dropbox. You can vote by mail or drop your ballot off at an official drop box through tomorrow, November 3 at 8 p.m.

For more information on the locations and hours of vote centers and ballot drop boxes, visit LAVote.net.

If the ballot drop box doesn’t look like this, it’s not legal.

More L.A. County Demographics: Age

Of the two new deaths reported today, both people were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and both people had underlying health conditions.

Ninety-three percent of the people who have died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions.

Cases by Age Group (Los Angeles County only — excluding Long Beach and Pasadena)

* 0 to 4 5169

* 5 to 11 11181

* 12 to 17 13751

* 18 to 29 71928

* 30 to 49 100624

* 50 to 64 56585

* 65 to 79 22378

* over 80 9945

* Under Investigation 1835

More L.A. County Demographics: Race/Ethnicity

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 6,668 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 52% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 23% among White residents, 14% among Asian residents, 10% among African American/Black residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.

L.A. County Public Health’s 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 Blueprint for a Safer Economy

Governor Newsom’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy imposes risk-based criteria on tightening and loosening COVID-19 allowable activities and expands the length of time between changes to assess how any movement affects the trajectory of the disease.

Californians can go to covid19.ca.gov to find out where their county falls and what activities are allowable in each county.

California Testing
More than 85 community testing sites offer free, confidential testing: Find a COVID-19 Testing Site.

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 October 18 to October 24, the average time patients waited for test results was 1.3 days. During this same time period, 66 percent of patients received test results in 1 day and 90 percent received them within 2 days. The testing turnaround time dashboard (PDF) is updated weekly.

As of September 23, California’s testing capacity and turnaround time have improved. As a result and until further notice, all four tiers in the Testing Prioritization Guidance originally dated July 14, 2020, will have equal priority for testing.

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 more than one-and-a-half times their population representation across all adult age categories. For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, overall numbers are low, but almost double 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.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)

Each week, the California Department of Public Health updates the number of cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) reported in the state.

As of October 26, 119 cases of MIS-C have been reported statewide, four more than the previous week.

To protect patient confidentiality in counties with fewer than 11 cases, CDPH is not providing total counts at this time.

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 are critical to preventing long-term complications.

Protect Yourself and Your Family

Every person has a role to play. Protecting yourself and your family comes down to common sense:

* Staying home except for essential needs/activities following local and state public health guidelines when patronizing approved businesses. To the extent that sectors are re-opened, Californians may leave their homes to work at, patronize, or otherwise engage with those businesses, establishments or activities.

* Practicing social distancing

* 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

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.

It’s important if someone thinks they could be positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting testing results to stay at home and act as if they are positive. This means self-isolating for 10 days and 72 hours after symptoms and fever subside.

If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they should plan on receiving a call from a public health specialist to discuss how to protect themselves and others, find out where they may have been, and who they were in close contact with while infectious.

California COVID-19 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.

* 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)

Consolidated guidance is available on the California Department of Public Health’s Guidance webpage.

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Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about novel coronavirus (COVID-19):

* Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

* California Department of Public Health

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

* Spanish

* World Health Organization

* Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard

L.A. County residents can also call 2-1-1.

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