The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health continues to see decreases and stabilizing of key indicators, including daily hospitalizations and deaths, officials said Monday.

There are 1,341 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 33% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU. In the last month, daily hospitalizations have decreased by 37%, from 2,219 in mid-July to 1,388 in mid-August.

Public Health reported 19 new deaths and 1,185 new cases of COVID-19 Monday. In late July, daily reported deaths averaged 43. Now, in mid-August, Public Health is seeing an average of 30 reported deaths per day.

To date, Public Health identified 223,131 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 5,273 deaths, including 4,997 confirmed COVID cases and 51 deaths in the Santa Clarita Valley.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those who have suffered the loss of someone they love to COVID-19. We are so sorry for your loss,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.

Upon further investigation, 24 cases reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Public Health still anticipates receiving backlog cases from the state electronic lab report. Data sources that track other key indicators, including hospitalizations and deaths, are not affected by this ELR reporting issue.

Test results are available for more than 2,093,000 county residents, with 10% of all people testing positive.

California Monday Snapshot
Statewide, as of Sunday, August 16, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 628,031 COVID-19 cases (up 6,469), with 11,242 deaths from the disease (up 18). There are 4,975 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,589 ICU hospitalizations in California, continuing a slight downward trend.

The 7-day positivity rate is 7.1% and the 14-day positivity rate is 6.5%.

As of August 16, local health departments have reported 28,610 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 143 deaths statewide.

A total of 5 counties are newly required to close indoor operations for certain sectors based on the July 13 order to slow community transmission. These counties have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, August 19 to implement these closures. (More on that later in the story.)

COVID Around the World: USA Still Tops Chart
Worldwide, 21,808,197 people have been infected by COVID-19 while 772,452 have died as of 4:27 Monday afternoon, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 5,435,908 Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, while the number of people in the U.S. who have died due to the virus has surpassed 170,453.

The United States has the highest case and death rate in the world. By comparison, Brazil, at #2, had confirmed 3.35 million cases and 108,536 deaths as of Monday afternoon.

Santa Clarita Valley Monday Update
The L.A. County Public Health COVID-19 data dashboard as of the latest update at 8 p.m. Saturday confirms 51 SCV residents have died of the virus since the pandemic began.

Of the dead, 40 lived in the city of Santa Clarita, 4 in Castaic, 2 in Acton, 2 in Stevenson Ranch, 1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon, 1 in Val Verde, and 1 in unincorporated Valencia.

Of the 4,997 cases reported to Public Health among SCV residents to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 2,659

Castaic: 1,877 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 139

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 103

Acton: 55

Val Verde: 54

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 39

Agua Dulce: 24

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 21

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 6

Bouquet Canyon: 6

Elizabeth Lake: 6

Sand Canyon: 5

Lake Hughes: 2

Saugus/Canyon Country: 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 Monday Update
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported its 21st COVID-related death on Friday, August 7, according to Patrick Moody, hospital spokesman. Due to privacy constraints, the hospital does not disclose patients’ cities of residence.

Henry Mayo now releases statistics weekly, on Wednesdays, unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a COVID-related death has been confirmed.

As of Wednesday, August 12, of the 5,893 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 719 tested positive, 6,654 were negative, 29 were pending, 9 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care, and a total of 217 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far, as fatalities at the hospital stand at 21, Moody confirmed.

Discrepancies in the testing numbers are due to some patients being tested multiple times. “Often a single patient is tested more than once,” Moody said.

More on L.A. County Progress
“The data suggests we are heading in the right direction in reducing transmission of the virus, and it is a testament to all of the residents and businesses who understand and take to heart their role in getting us to the other side of this pandemic with fewer cases, illnesses and deaths,” Ferrer said.

“Across the country and here in L.A. County, we have seen many reports of gatherings for parties, weddings, worship services and other celebrations resulting in a participant unknowingly infecting other attendees,” she said. “These gatherings, especially when they are indoors, have significant potential for infecting many people. We all want to be with others – it is natural to want that connection. But non-essential activities carry with them a lot of unnecessary risk and could easily result in the tragedy of someone becoming very ill and even passing away.

“Wearing a cloth face covering over your nose and mouth, avoiding gatherings, keeping a physical distance from others when you are out of your home, and frequently washing your hands are activities proven to help slow the spread — but we all must do them and be diligent,” Ferrer said.

L.A. County Demographics
Of the 19 new deaths, seven people (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80 years old, five people were between 65 and 79 years old, four people were between 50 and 64 years old, two people were between 30 and 49 years old and one person was between 18 and 29 years old.

Thirteen people had underlying health conditions including six people over 80 years old, three people between 65 and 79 years old, two people between 50 and 64 years old, one person between 30 and 49 years old, and one person between 18 and 29 years old.

Countywide, 92% of people who died had underlying health conditions.

Upon further investigation, 88 cases and two deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 4,960 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health): 50% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 24% among White residents, 15% 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 Meeting 5 of 6 State Indicators
The state is monitoring all counties on six indicators to determine their progress in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

These indicators include testing capacity, how much transmission of the virus is happening in a community, how many people are currently hospitalized for COVID-19, and the capacity of hospitals to care for people with COVID-19 with adequate numbers of available Intensive Care Unit beds and ventilators.

L.A. County is meeting five of the state’s six indicators.

To meet all six indicators, Public Health has to lower the case rate — the number of positive cases per 100,000 people countywide over a 14-day period. Currently, the county’s 14-day cases per 100,000 people rate is 295, which is significantly higher than the state’s threshold of fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 people.

The state monitors all counties closely on these indicators to understand their progress on controlling the transmission, to provide technical assistance to counties who need it and to ultimately make decisions about how counties can proceed with re-openings.

Contact Tracing
Public Health has been engaged in contact tracing since the first cases arrived this spring and the department continues contact tracing, even as the number of cases have increased over the summer. Since the beginning of August, completed case investigation interviews have increased 20% from 63% of cases completing the interview to, as of this weekend, 75%.

Throughout the COVID-19 response, Public Health has issued isolation and quarantine orders to almost 230,000 people infected with the virus or exposed to it. Of those, 177,959 were isolation orders to people who have been infected and 51,418 were quarantine orders to close contacts of infected people.

The COVID-19 contact tracing program will continue to be in place as long as this virus continues to spread. Obtaining as much information as possible from people during the case investigation interview helps contain this virus.

Given past ELR delays, the department urges any person with a positive lab result to call 1-833-540-0473 to connect with a public health specialist who can provide information about services and support. Residents who do not have COVID-19 should continue to call 211 for resources or more information.

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 County Monitoring Data
A total of 42 California counties including Los Angeles and Ventura are required to close indoor operations for certain sectors based on the July 13 order to slow community transmission.

CDPH updated the county data monitoring list now that the recent backlog of data has been cleared. As a result, CDPH has retroactively updated the list for each day over the entire period impacted (July 25 – August 16).

Counties that have now been added to the list include Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mendocino, and Sierra.

Santa Cruz County has been removed from the list.

If a county should have moved off the list while the list was frozen, that date is being calculated retroactively. The calculation will use the first date after three consecutive days of being under the threshold for the county data monitoring metrics.

If a county moved onto the list during the period the list was frozen (August 1-16), to implement sector closures in compliance with the July 13 order, new closures must be effective by 11:59 p.m. on August 19.

Counties on the County Monitoring List for three or more consecutive days must close indoor operations for additional activities.

See the complete list of counties here.

California Testing
There have been 9,933,780 tests conducted in California, an increase of 135,645 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

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

The CDPH released updated testing guidance on July 23 that focuses on testing hospitalized individuals with signs or symptoms of COVID-19 and people being tested as part of the investigation and management of outbreaks, including contact tracing.

The testing guidance also prioritizes individuals who have COVID-19 symptoms and individuals without symptoms who fall into high-risk categories, including people who live and work in nursing homes, homeless shelters and prisons, healthcare workers, and patients in hospitals.

The new guidance will ensure that Californians who most need tests get them even if there are limited supplies.

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 August 11, there have been 36 cases of MIS-C have been reported statewide, an increase of 7 over the previous week.

To protect patient confidentiality in counties with fewer than 11 cases, we are 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, to 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.

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *