Two more residents of the city of Santa Clarita have died of COVID-19, bringing the Santa Clarita Valley’s total fatalities to 44 since the pandemic began, according to Los Angeles County Department of Public Health records updated through 8 p.m. Saturday.

Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital also reported its 17th COVID-related death on Monday afternoon. The patient was one of the two new Santa Clarita fatalities reported by Public Health Saturday night, hospital officials confirmed.

Public Health on Monday introduced a new set of three C’s: Compliance, Containment and Collaboration — to underscore the ongoing need to protect the long-term health and well-being of residents and the workforce as we move forward in the recovery journey.

Compliance: Businesses must comply with Health Officer Orders and implement the strict infection control practices and distancing guidelines in place to protect the workforce and the public. Residents must continue to wear face coverings, maintain physical distancing, avoid gathering with people they don’t live with and continue washing their hands and cleaning high-touch surfaces.

Containment: Adequate testing and case investigations are critical tools to contain spread. The Department of Health Services has announced testing capacity has expanded to more than 65% to serve communities hardest hit by COVID-19 that experience racial and economic disparities. Case interviews and contact tracing of people who are positive or exposed are isolating and quarantining must continue. Businesses and employers must also do their part and alert the department to outbreaks at their work sites.

Collaboration: Collaborating across all sectors and government is imperative to ensure clear messages to the public, uninterrupted supply chains for testing supplies and personal protective equipment, and unity in strategies for re-opening with as much safety as possible.

Public Health on Monday confirmed 17 new deaths and 2,039 new cases of COVID-19, with 4,189 cases confirmed to date in the SCV, including 2,001 in the city of Santa Clarita.

L.A. County is reporting 2,017 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 29% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU. There is a total of 2,552 confirmed and suspected cases that are currently hospitalized and 18% of these people are on ventilators. The hospitalization data is incomplete due to data from five non-reporting hospitals not being part of Monday’s update.

Test results are available for nearly 1,649,000 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.

To date, Public Health has identified 176,028 positive cases of COVID-19 and a total of 4,375 deaths across all areas of L.A. County.

“To the many families who are experiencing the profound grief of losing a loved one to COVID-19, we are so sorry for your loss. We also send our deepest sympathies to Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia who recently lost his mother to this virus,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.

California Snapshot
Statewide, the California Department of Public Health on Monday confirmed a total of 460,550 COVID-19 cases, up 6,891, with 8,445 deaths, an increase of 29, as of Sunday.

There are now 6,935 confirmed hospitalizations and 2,012 ICU hospitalizations in California.

California’s positivity rate – a key indicator of community spread – is trending upward in the 14-day average. It stands at 7.5% as of Sunday. Hospitalization rates are also trending upward in the 14-day average.

Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed, and the 7-day average more accurately describes trends in the number of cases. The 7-day average number of new cases is now 9,859 per day. The 7-day average from the week prior was 8,911.

Santa Clarita Valley Monday Update
The L.A. County Public Health COVID-19 data dashboard, last updated 8 p.m. Saturday, reports 44 SCV residents have died of the virus since the pandemic began. Of the 44 people, 35 resided in the city of Santa Clarita, 2 in Acton, 2 in Castaic, 2 in Stevenson Ranch, 1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon, 1 in Val Verde and 1 in unincorporated Valencia.

Of the 4,189 COVID-19 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 2,001

Castaic: 1,851 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 104

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 75

Val Verde: 41

Acton: 40

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 32

Agua Dulce: 18

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 12

Elizabeth Lake: 5

Newhall (unincorporated portion): 4

Sand Canyon: 3

Bouquet Canyon: 1

Lake Hughes: 1

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 17th COVID-related death on Monday, July 27, according to Patrick Moody, hospital spokesman.

As of Monday, of the 5,171 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 637 tested positive, 5,585 were negative, 225 were pending, 28 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (up 3 from a week ago, and 6 from two weeks ago), a total of 171 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far, and the number of deceased at the hospital is 17, Moody said.

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.

The hospital is now releasing statistics on a weekly basis (Wednesdays) unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a death has been confirmed.

More on L.A. County Compliance, Containment, Collaboration
“It has been 145 days since the COVID-19 public health emergency was declared in Los Angeles County,” Ferrer said.

“These past 145 days have given us time to learn a lot more about COVID-19 — how to coexist with it as we await the development of treatments and vaccines, and how to slow the spread to give our health system a fighting chance of treating those who fall seriously ill,” she said.

“We must drive compliance, containment, and collaboration efforts that will move with us into the long-term recovery that we all want to see happen as soon as possible,” she said. “There is mounting evidence that these strategies work. The task in front of us is to be able to thread the needle so that we continue with our recovery journey while protecting the health and well-being of our residents, our workforce and our community. We have to do both.”

L.A. County Demographics
Since May, the majority of cases have occurred among people between the ages of 18 and 49 years old. People between the ages of 30 and 49 years old account for the largest proportion of cases and roughly the same proportion of cases as seen since May. Other age groups are flat or decreasing slightly.

Of the 17 new deaths, seven people who passed away (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80, seven people who died were between 65 and 79 years old, one person who died was between 50 and 64 years old, and two people who died were between 30 and 49 years old.

Fourteen people had underlying health conditions including six people over 80 years old, six people between 65 and 79 years old, one person between 50 and 64 years old, and one person between 30 and 49 years old.

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

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

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 4,083 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 48% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 25% among White residents, 15% among Asian residents, 11% among African American/Black residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.

Healthcare Workers
As of July 26, local health departments have reported 21,895 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 119 deaths statewide to the California Department of Public Health.

L.A. County Public Health continues tracking the number of positive cases and deaths among healthcare workers related to the COVID-19 pandemic response.

A total of 11,481 healthcare workers and first responders have confirmed cases of COVID-19 in L.A. County and there has been a total of 74 deaths.

Healthcare workers who are employed in skilled nursing facilities, and long-term care facilities continue to make up the highest proportion of cases at 35 percent, but their percentage has been declining as the number of cases in outpatient settings rises.

Nurses (including LVNs and practical nurses) continue to account for the most deaths (45%) and those who work in skilled nursing facilities represent the largest portion of the healthcare worker deaths (65%).

L.A. County Testing, Contact Tracing
It is 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 24 hours after symptoms and fever subside. If a person has a positive lab result for COVID-19, expect a public health specialist from L.A. County Public Health to contact them by phone to interview about possible exposures and to identify others who may have also been exposed to the infection.

The information is protected and cannot be shared with others except in emergency situations. A public health specialist will never ask for a Social Security number, payment or documented status.

Public Health has a dedicated call line for confirmed cases of COVID-19. If you have not yet connected with a public health specialist or need more information on services, call toll-free at 1-833-540-0473. 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.

Note on California Hospitalization Numbers
Since July 23, hospitalization numbers reflect a change in reporting requirements that were implemented last week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The change resulted in historical data from 39 non-reporting facilities not being part of recent updates, resulting in lower numbers. This data will be added back in as soon as it is available.

County Monitoring Data
A total of 36 California counties accounting for the majority of the state’s population including Los Angeles and Ventura are now required by the California Department of Public Health to close indoor operations for certain sectors based on the state’s July 13 order to slow community transmission.

See the complete list of counties here.

California Testing
There have been 7,296,578 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 128,439 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.

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

The California Department of Public Health 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 July 21, there have been 24 cases of MIS-C reported from seven counties. Los Angeles County has reported the majority of cases (15). Additional cases have been reported from San Diego, Imperial, Kings, Monterey, Orange, and Sacramento counties.

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.

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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.