The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Monday confirmed 477 new cases of COVID-19 and 18 new deaths due to the virus countywide, with a total of 962 cases reported and one new fatality in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported another death due to COVID-19 late Monday afternoon, bringing the hospital’s total to 8, and the SCV’s total to 18.

Of the new COVID-19 cases, four were in the SCV.

California has 80,430 confirmed cases and 3,302 deaths from COVID-19 as of Sunday, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Local health departments statewide have confirmed 8,330 positive cases in healthcare workers and 47 deaths as of May 17.

L.A. County Public Health reported the 17 previous Santa Clarita Valley fatalities Friday in a detailed breakdown by geographic location, which the department had not done until then.

Of those 17, 15 were residents of the city of Santa Clarita, one of Acton, and one of Castaic. The name of the community where the 18th person lived was not immediately available.

Countywide, Public Health reported Monday, 15 people who died in the last 24 hours were over 65 years old and three people who died were between 41 to 65 years old. Fifteen people had underlying health conditions including 12 people over 65 years old and three people between 41 to 65 years old.

To date, Public Health has identified 38,451 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 1,839 deaths. Ninety-two percent of people who died had underlying health conditions.

As of Monday, 5,835 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (15% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,570 people who are currently hospitalized, 27% of these people are in the ICU and 20% are on ventilators.

Santa Clarita Valley Monday Update
Of the 962 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 583

Castaic: 276 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility)

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 33

Stevenson Ranch: 28

Val Verde: 14

Acton: 10

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 7

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 4

Agua Dulce: 4

Elizabeth Lake 3

“Today @santaclarita has re-opened the following: City Hall, Public Libraries (curbside pickup), Dog Park and Skate Park…please continue to follow safety protocols as you enjoy the facilities,” Mayor Cameron Smyth tweeted Monday morning.

Henry Mayo Monday Update
The eighth COVID-19 death at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital was confirmed by hospital spokesman Patrick Moody late Monday afternoon, bringing the number of fatalities in all areas of the SCV to 18.

Moody also said that as of Monday, of the 1,249 persons tested at Henry Mayo to date, 195 tested positive, 1,172 were negative, 17 were pending and 15 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care. Sixty-eight COVID-19 patients have been discharged.

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

Testing – L.A. County
Testing capacity continues to increase in L.A. County, with testing results available for over 350,000 individuals and 9% of people testing positive.

Testing capacity also continues to increase across skilled nursing facilities in L.A. County. With the support from Public Health, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the City of Los Angeles, 141 skilled nursing facilities have tested all residents and staff.

Of the over 3,600 people tested, 402 (11%) tested positive for COVID-19 and only 57 (14%) of the people who tested positive were symptomatic.

This highlights the number of people, in any setting, who may be positive for COVID-19 and have no symptoms. Public Health continues to schedule appointments with other skilled nursing facilities to complete testing, conduct on-site inspections and survey bed capacity, staffing capacity and availability of personal protective equipment.

L.A. County Demographics
Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 1,706 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.

Healthcare Workers
Public Health continues to see increases in the number of positive cases and deaths among healthcare workers related to the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Public Health has confirmed 26 people who died from COVID-19 worked in a healthcare setting; 20 people who died worked in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, four people worked in hospitals, one person worked in a correctional facility, and one person worked in an outpatient facility.

A total of 4,298 confirmed cases of COVID-19 occurred among healthcare workers and first responders; this is an additional 684 new cases reported since the previous week.

Six percent of healthcare workers with COVID-19 have been hospitalized. Forty-six percent of cases are among nurses, though cases have been identified among a range of occupational roles, including caregivers, people who work in administration, physicians and medical assistants. About 58% of these cases reported a known source of exposure, and 79% of healthcare workers with known exposure reported being exposed in a healthcare facility.

Healthcare workers who are positive worked at 26 different occupational settings, with the vast majority of cases among healthcare workers from skilled nursing facilities and hospitals.

Updated L.A. County Health Officer Order

The current Health Officer Order replaces the previous Health Officer Order and allows for retailers and manufacturers, select recreational facilities, and beaches to reopen.

Retailers remain closed to public entry and beaches are open for active recreation only. Everyone must follow distancing and infection control protocols, stay at least six feet apart and wear a clean cloth face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when 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 a 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.

“Many people across our county are experiencing the profound sadness of losing a loved one. Please know, we as a community mourn with you, and you are in our thoughts and prayers every day,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Because many more people are out than even a week ago, the risk for spreading COVID-19 is greater. It is so important that we all continue to practice physical distancing and wearing cloth face coverings at all times when we are out and around other people to help prevent (a) sharp increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.”

L.A. County Interactive Dashboard
An interactive dashboard 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. Visit Public Health’s COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard here.

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.

Here’s the incident report for Monday, May 18:

[Open .pdf in new window]

California Monday Update
As testing capacity continues to increase across the state, the California Department of Public Health is working to expand access to COVID-19 testing. Testing should be used for medical evaluation of persons with symptoms of COVID-19 as well as for efforts by public health agencies and essential employers to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19.

As of May 17, 1,292,672 tests have been conducted in California and reported to the California Department of Public Health. This represents an increase of 57,429 tests over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

These numbers include data from commercial, private and academic labs, including Quest, LabCorp, Kaiser, University of California and Stanford, and the 25 state and county health labs currently testing.

California Demographics
Health outcomes are affected by forces including structural racism, poverty and the disproportionate prevalence of underlying conditions such as asthma and heart disease among Latinos and African American Californians.

The differences in health outcomes related to COVID-19 are most stark in COVID-19 deaths. We have nearly complete data on race and ethnicity for COVID-19 deaths, and we are seeing the following trends.

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 about double their population representation across all adult age categories. For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, overall numbers are low, but there is nearly a four-fold difference 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.

California continues to issue guidance on preparing and protecting California from COVID-19. Visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) in alifornia and California Department of Public Health COVID-19 Guidance.

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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.