The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Monday confirmed 16 new deaths and 1,022 new cases of COVID-19, with a total of 5,414 cases and the 55th death confirmed among Santa Clarita Valley residents to date.

Since the pandemic began, Public Health has identified 241,768 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 5,784 deaths.

Public Health reports L.A. County has made encouraging progress in all the key indicators the past month.

The percent of positive tests is a good indicator of how the county is doing at slowing the spread of the virus. A month ago, on July 31, the 7-day test positivity rate was 8.6%. Today, the 7-day positivity rate is 4.7%, a decrease of 45% in one month.

In that same period, the county’s daily hospitalizations decreased by 48%, from 2,220 on July 31 to 1,043 today.

The 7-day average of new cases has also declined steadily over the past month. On July 31 the 7-day average of new cases was 2,883 and today that number is 1,309, a decrease of 55%.

Test results are available for more than 2,296,000 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.

California Monday Snapshot

Statewide, as of Sunday, August 30, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 704,085 COVID-19 cases (up 4,176), with 12,933 deaths from the disease (up 28).

There are 3,818 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,223 ICU hospitalizations in the state.

California’s 7-day positivity rate is 4.9% and the 14-day positivity rate is 5.3%, continuing a downward trend.

There have been 11,373,305 tests conducted in California, an increase of 141,476 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

As of August 30, local health departments have reported 32,262 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 150 deaths statewide.

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

COVID Around the World: USA Surpasses 6 Million Cases
Worldwide, 25,334,339 people have been infected by COVID-19 while 848,084 people have died as of 2:28 Monday afternoon, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 6,023,368 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 183,431.

The United States has the world’s highest numbers of cases and deaths. By comparison, Brazil, at #2, had confirmed 3,862,311 million cases and 120,828 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, August 29 has confirmed 55 SCV residents have died of the virus since the pandemic began.

Of the dead, 42 lived in the city of Santa Clarita, 5 in Castaic, 2 in Acton, 2 in Stevenson Ranch, 1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon, 1 in Val Verde, 1 in unincorporated Valencia, and 1 in a community not yet identified.

Of the 5,414 cases reported to Public Health among SCV residents to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 2,999

Castaic: 1,904 (most from Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 154

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 117

Acton: 61

Val Verde: 60

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 41

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 26

Agua Dulce: 25

Bouquet Canyon: 6

Elizabeth Lake: 6

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 6

Sand Canyon: 6

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: 22nd Fatality

Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital on Monday reported its 22nd death since the pandemic began, according to hospital spokesman Patrick Moody.

As of Monday, August 31, of the 6,818 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 794 tested positive, 7,830 were negative, 8 were pending, 10 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (down 1 from the previous Wednesday), and a total of 236 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far.

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.

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.

L.A. County Demographics

Of the 16 new deaths reported today, eight people who died (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80 years old, two people were between 65 and 79 years old, four people were between 50 and 64 years old, and two people were between 30 and 49 years old.

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

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

* 0 to 4 3716

* 5 to 11 8130

* 12 to 17 10107

* 18 to 29 56716

* 30 to 49 78709

* 50 to 64 44273

* 65 to 79 17537

* over 80 8316

* Under Investigation 1404

Countywide, 93% of people who died had underlying health conditions.

L.A. County Demographics: Race/Ethnicity

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 5,443 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% 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.

“Our hearts go out to all our county residents who are mourning the loss of a loved one,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.

Labor Day Weekend Warning

While optimistic about the county’s current community transmission data, Public Health officials are preparing for the Labor Day holiday weekend and warning the public to heed the lessons learned from the spike in cases, hospitalizations and deaths that occurred after the previous holidays.

Increases in cases and hospitalizations occurred within a few weeks of the Memorial Day and July 4th holidays. In order to continue our recovery journey, it’s important to use the tools we have and adhere to physical distancing and infection control requirements that reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19.

As a reminder, being around people who aren’t part of your household puts you at a greater risk for COVID-19, which is why it is so important to find ways to celebrate Labor Day without going to parties and barbeques hosted by non-household members.

“As we approach the Labor Day weekend and as we plan for how our county will reopen schools and more businesses, we must learn from our past,” Ferrer said. “Gatherings – parties, cook-outs and the other activities we usually do with non-household members on holidays can easily lead to increases in transmission, hospitalizations and deaths.”

L.A. County and the California Blueprint for a Safer Economy

On Friday, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, a new tiered framework to capture more easily the extent of community transmission in counties across the state.

L.A. County will use this tiered system to guide possible sector reopenings for each county to consider.

However, the ultimate decisions about sector reopenings will remain under the purview of the local Health Officer Orders that are developed in consultation with the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

L.A. County is currently in Tier 1, meaning that there continues to be the widespread transmission of the virus in the county.

The current number of new cases per day per 100,000 people is 13.1, nearly double the threshold for this tier which is less than 7 new cases per day per 100,000 population.

And even though L.A. County’s current test positivity rate of 5% puts the county in Tier 2 (Red) for this metric, when the two metrics fall in different tiers the state places counties in the most restrictive tier; hence, L.A. County, like most counties in California, has been placed in Tier 1.

The county’s path forward for recovery depends on residents being able to reduce community transmission significantly so children and teachers can get back to their classrooms and more people can get back to their jobs with as much safety as possible.

Meanwhile, 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.

Here’s the L.A. County incident update for Monday, August 31:

[Open .pdf in new window]

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 County Monitoring Data

As of Monday, a total of 34 California counties including Los Angeles are required to close indoor operations for certain sectors based on the July 13 order to slow community transmission.

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

The July 13 order specifies that these indoor operations shall remain closed, even when a county is removed from the county monitoring list until the state health officer modifies the order and authorizes re-opening. The state is actively reassessing the July 13 order in light of evolving scientific evidence regarding disease transmission and the risk of transmission in different settings and will provide updates in the coming week.

For more information, visit the County Data Monitoring webpage.

California Testing Sites

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 24, there have been 47 cases of MIS-C reported statewide, an increase of 8 over 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, 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.

* * * * *