The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 53 new deaths and 757 new cases of COVID-19, with 27,259 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.

To date, Public Health identified 1,220,246 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 23,189 deaths.

Starting Thursday, April 1, residents 50 through 64 years old are eligible for COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, on April 15, vaccines become available to any resident in Los Angeles County who is 16 and older.

Currently, there are not yet enough doses to vaccinate everyone that is eligible, so we continue to ask for patience until supply increases. The County has prepared for increased allocations and expanded eligibility and is working on expanding collective capacity to be able to administer 1 million doses a week by the end of April. Public Health remains laser-focused on ensuring an equitable distribution of vaccines and ensuring eligible residents and workers in hard hit communities have increased access to vaccines.

For information about vaccine appointments in L.A. County and when your turn is coming up, to sign up for a vaccination newsletter, and much more, visit www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish). Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status.

California Thursday Snapshot
On Thursday, the state issued an updated travel advisory, removing the previous recommendation that Californians not travel more than 120 miles from ones’ place of residence. Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19, and Californians should continue to avoid non-essential travel outside of California. Non-essential travelers from other states or countries are strongly discouraged from entering California and should follow CDC travel guidance related to testing and self-quarantine.

Statewide, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) confirmed Thursday 3,570,660 confirmed cases and 58,090 deaths to date. There are 2,200 confirmed hospitalizations and 576 ICU hospitalizations in the state.

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

There were 2,234 newly recorded confirmed cases Wednesday.

The 7-day positivity rate is 1.9%.

There have been 53,934,609 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 103,017 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.

As of April 1, providers have reported administering a total of 18,401,747 vaccine doses statewide. The CDC reports that 23,505,520 doses have been delivered to entities within the state. Numbers do not represent true day-to-day change as reporting may be delayed. For more vaccination data, visit the COVID-19 Vaccine Data Dashboard.

Health Care Worker Infection Rates
As of March 31, local health departments have reported 102,520 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 443 deaths statewide.

Santa Clarita Valley Thursday Update
Note: As of 6:00 p.m. Thursday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard was experiencing technical issues. The most recent data from Tuesday recorded 299 deaths among Santa Clarita Valley residents since the pandemic began.

The following is the community breakdown of the 299 SCV residents who have died, according to the L.A. County dashboard:

257 lived in Santa Clarita

17 in Castaic

6 in Acton

5 in Stevenson Ranch

4 in Agua Dulce

3 in unincorporated Canyon Country

1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon

1 in Elizabeth Lake

1 in Lake Hughes

1 in Newhall

1 in unincorporated Saugus/Canyon Country

1 in Val Verde

1 in Valencia

Of the 27,259 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 19,954

Castaic: 3,680

(includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 1,121

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 826

Acton: 462

Val Verde: 334

Agua Dulce: 266

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 185

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 128

Elizabeth Lake: 75

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 68

Bouquet Canyon: 47

Lake Hughes: 41

Saugus/Canyon Country: 39

Sand Canyon: 17

San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon: 15

Placerita 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.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Thursday Update
Hospital spokesman Patrick Moody said as of Thursday, there are zero cases pending, five patients are hospitalized in a dedicated COVID-19 unit receiving ICU-level care, a total of 1,191 patients have been treated and discharged and no additional deaths (147 to date).

Privacy laws prohibit the hospital from releasing the community of residence for patients who die there; that info is reported by the L.A. County Public Health COVID-19 dashboard, which generally lags 48 hours behind.

L.A. County

Of the 53 new deaths reported Thursday, 12 people that passed away were over the age of 80, 25 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, 13 people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64, and two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49. One death was reported by the city of Long Beach.

“To the families and friends mourning a loved one lost to COVID-19, we wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Highly contagious variants are spreading throughout the country, and we continue to have concerns about the increased risk of transmission during spring break and holiday travel and parties. Not only are people from different places gathering in large numbers in airports, but also at social gatherings when they are at their destination. These scenarios present the perfect opportunity for the COVID-19 virus to find new hosts and spread. During this critical time in our recovery journey, we have to avoid taking part in activities that are risky and must continue to protect each other by following the safety measures.”

Travel and gathering in-person with others increase the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19. While COVID-19 numbers have decreased in L.A. County, transmission is widespread and increasing in many other states and countries. The risk of spread increases when people are not diligently following safety measures including consistently and correctly wearing face masks, keeping their physical distance and when people gather indoors. Please note that L.A. County requires all persons to self-quarantine for 10 days when arriving in L.A. County from other states or countries. Private gatherings indoors are permitted with up to three separate households with masking and distancing required at all times and should be limited to two hours. Outdoors is still safer than indoors. People who are fully vaccinated can gather in small numbers indoors with other people who are fully vaccinated without required masking and distancing. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks or more after they received the second dose of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two weeks or more after they received the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Fully vaccinated people should continue to wear a mask and maintain physical distance in public.

There are 652 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 25% of these people are in the ICU. Testing results are available for nearly 6,102,000 individuals with 19% of people testing positive. Today’s daily test positivity rate is 1.6%.

The 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 Thursday

Vaccine Eligibility Update

With supply of vaccines expected to significantly increase in the coming weeks, the state is expanding vaccine eligibility to more Californians. Starting April 1, individuals 50 and over will be eligible to make an appointment, and individuals 16 and over will be eligible to make an appointment to be vaccinated starting on April 15. To sign up for a notification when you’re eligible for a vaccine, please visit myturn.ca.gov. For more information on the vaccine effort, visit Vaccinate All 58.

Tracking Variants

Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been identified globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. These genetic mutations are expected, and some emerge and then disappear, while others persist or become common. Most variants do not have a meaningful impact. Public health becomes concerned about a variant when it affects COVID-19 transmission, severity, testing, treatment or vaccine effectiveness. Get more information on the variants CDPH is currently monitoring.

Blueprint for a Safer Economy
All counties are under the rules and framework of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy and color-coded tiers that indicate which activities and businesses are open based on local case rates and test positivity. As always, local public health departments may implement policies that are more restrictive than the state.

Blueprint Summary as of March 30

3 counties in the Purple (widespread) Tier

36 counties in the Red (substantial) Tier

17 counties in Orange (moderate) Tier

2 counties in Yellow (minimal) Tier

Blueprint tiers are updated weekly on Tuesdays. Find the status of activities in specific counties.

Additional Date and Updates

County Map – Local data, including tier status and ICU capacity

Data and Tools – Models and dashboards for researchers, scientists and the public

Blueprint for a Safer Economy – Data for establishing tier status

Updated Travel Advisory
California updated its travel advisory on April 1, removing the previous recommendation that Californians not travel more than 120 miles from ones’ place of residence. Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19, and Californians should continue to avoid non-essential travel outside of the state. Non-essential travelers from other states or countries are strongly discouraged from entering California and should follow CDC travel guidance related to testing and self-quarantine.

Safe Schools for All Plan
Gov. Newsom released his California’s Safe Schools for All plan, California’s framework to support schools to continue operating safely in person and to expand the number of schools safely resuming in-person instruction. View the data for public schools by selecting a specific district on the School Districts Reopening Map. The map includes reported outbreaks since January 1, 2021.

Vaccinate All 58
The COVID-19 shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in California, and additional shipments will continue to arrive throughout this week. The first doses are being administered to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. The state is working closely with community partners and stakeholders to help ensure the vaccine is distributed and administered equitably across California. For more information, visit the CDPH COVID-19 Vaccine webpage and Vaccinate All 58.

New Testing Turnaround Time Dashboard
The testing turnaround dashboard reports how long California patients are waiting for COVID-19 test results. During the week of March 14 – March 20, the average time patients waited for test results was one day. During this same time period, 83% of patients received test results in one day and 97% received them within two days.

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.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
As of March 29, 443 cases cases Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) have been reported statewide. 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.

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 is critical to preventing long-term complications.

New Health Equity Dashboard
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted existing inequities in health that are the result of structural racism and poverty, and the disproportionate prevalence of underlying conditions such as asthma and heart disease among Latinos and African Americans. As part of its commitment to reduce health inequities and ensure the best outcomes for all Californians, the state has launched a Health Equity Dashboard on www.covid19.ca.gov. View COVID-19 Race & Ethnicity Data and Cases and Deaths by Age Group.

Popular links include:

– 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)

Your Actions Save Lives
California is experiencing the fastest increase in cases we have seen yet – faster than what we experienced at the outset of the pandemic and this summer. If COVID-19 continues to spread at this rate, it could quickly overwhelm our health care system and lead to catastrophic outcomes. Protect yourself, family, friends and community by following these prevention measures:

– Staying home except for essential needs/activities and following local and state public health guidelines when visiting businesses that are open.

– Following the Limited Stay at Home Order that requires allnon-essential work and activities to stop between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in counties in the purple tier. The order took effect at 10 p.m. Saturday, November 21, and will remain in effect until 5 a.m. December 21.

– Staying close to home, avoiding non-essential travel, and practicing self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival if you leave the state.

– Keeping gatherings small, short and outdoors and limiting them to those who live in your household.

– 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.

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.

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.

For more information about what Californians can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19, visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) in California.

California continues to issue guidance on preparing and protecting California from COVID-19. Consolidated guidance is available on the California Department of Public Health’s Guidance webpage.