The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 17 new deaths and 3,248 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with 29,772 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The new cases is a 17% increase over last week. The daily average case rate is now 15.7 cases per 100,000 people, an increase of 21.7% from last week’s rate of 12.9 cases per 100,000 people. This is a significantly smaller rate of increase than seen last week, where cases increased over 80% from the prior week.

To date, Public Health has identified 1,293,450 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,675 deaths. Of the 17 new deaths reported Thursday, four people that passed away were over the age of 80, three people that passed away were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and 10 people who passed away were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old.

Over the last few weeks, case rates have risen precipitously among unvaccinated people. In June, 80% of all new cases were among those not vaccinated. While cases are also rising among vaccinated people, this increase is smaller and slower than it is in unvaccinated people. Between May 1 and July 17 of this year, our county had 3,167 hospitalized COVID cases: 92% were among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals, and 8%, were among those fully vaccinated. These trends contribute the certainty that the vaccines are working as intended: although vaccinated people are seeing a rise in new COVID diagnoses, they are primarily experiencing their infections not as severe illnesses that bring them to the emergency room, but as bad colds. As the data shows, unvaccinated people simply cannot have the same level of confidence that an infection with this virus will lead to mild illness.

Testing results are available for nearly 7,300,000 individuals with 16% of people testing positive. Thursday’s daily test positivity rate is 5.17%, an increase of less than half a percentage point (0.44) from last week’s rate of 4.73%, which was itself an increase of nearly a full percentage point over the previous week. This also suggests that our rate of increase may be stabilizing.

Specimens sequenced by several labs serving Southern California, including the L.A. County Public Health lab show the Delta variant is on the rise. Sequences collected between July 18 and 24 show that the Delta variant was isolated in 96% of the 675 specimens sequenced that week. This is consistent with the rise of Delta nationwide and CDC estimates. Given nearly 4 million residents in L.A. County are not yet vaccinated, risk of increased spread of this variant within our County remains extremely high. This now-predominant strain is more efficiently transmitted between people, likely due to its faster replication, higher viral load, and greater affinity for lower respiratory tract cells compared with earlier COVID strains.

With high rates of transmission in the county, Public Health remains focused on mitigation strategies to reduce the spread of the virus. The most powerful tool we have for lowering viral transmission remains vaccinations. There is ample data and science that prove the vaccines are both safe and effective at preventing serious illness and death.

**More from Los Angeles County Public Health further below**

Santa Clarita Valley Thursday Update
As of 7:00 p.m. Thursday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard recorded another death in the city of Santa Clarita, (the death reported from Henry Mayo Wednesday), bringing the total of COVID-19 related deaths in the SCV to 310 since the pandemic began.

The following is the community breakdown of the 310 SCV residents who have died, according to the L.A. County dashboard:

268 in Santa Clarita

16 in Castaic (**revised initially from 18)

6 in Acton

6 in Stevenson Ranch

4 in unincorporated Canyon Country

3 in Agua Dulce

1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon

1 in Elizabeth Lake

1 in Lake Hughes

1 in Newhall

1 in unincorporated Saugus/Canyon Country

1 in Valencia

1 in Val Verde

Of the 29,772 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 21,830

Castaic: 3,893

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

Stevenson Ranch: 1,278

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 907

Acton: 518

Val Verde: 352

Agua Dulce: 308

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 216

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 140

Elizabeth Lake: 84

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 69

Bouquet Canyon: 51

Lake Hughes: 43

Saugus/Canyon Country: 46

Sand Canyon: 18

San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon: 15

Placerita Canyon: 4

*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
As of Thursday, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital had one test pending, 22 patients hospitalized, a total of 1,295 patients treated and discharged since the pandemic began, and no additional deaths, hospital spokesman Patrick Moody confirmed.

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

“For all of those in our County who have lost a loved one to COVID-19, we extend our deepest condolences to you and your family,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Vaccinations are critically important to reducing the impact of rising infection on our residents. The science on this variant shows that it is different from earlier variants of COVID: it replicates faster and more efficiently in respiratory tract cells, which means that infected people may now spread up to 1,000 times more virus particles with every cough, sneeze, or shout than they did a year ago. They may also spread the virus efficiently 2 days earlier in their illness course than did people who were infected a year ago. A more infectious variant indicates infected people have more opportunities to transmit the virus and can do so more efficiently before they realize they were even exposed. And while vaccinated people are extremely unlikely to get severely ill from COVID, there is a small risk of getting infected, and transmitting the virus. This is why we are asking everyone to wear a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status.”

Increased circulation of the highly transmissible Delta variant is leading to case increases across all racial and ethnic groups. In keeping with recent trends, over the month preceding July 17, all groups saw an increase in cases, with the highest case rate observed among Black residents, whose case rate rose from 43 cases per 100,000 people to 181 cases per 100,000 people, an increase of 320%. There were also significant increases in case rates for all groups, with increases of 182% in Latinx residents, 361% in White residents, and 371% in Asian residents. The more recent case incidence rate in Black residents is more than twice that in White residents, and also important to note that now White residents, who have traditionally experienced lower case rates than Latinx and Black residents, are the group with the next highest case rate.

Over the same interval, hospitalization rates have been trending upward by 35 to 90% in Black, Latinx, and Asian residents, and we have seen deaths begin to trend upward among Black, Latinx, White and Asian residents by 71%.

To find a vaccination site near you, to make an appointment at vaccination sites, and much more, Visit: www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish) If you don’t have internet access, can’t use a computer, or you’re over 65, you can call 1-833-540-0473 for help finding an appointment or scheduling a home-visit if you are homebound. Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status.

County Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional actions you can take to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

California Thursday

California Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 3,830,008 cases and 63,891 deaths to date. There are 3,605 confirmed hospitalizations and 784 ICU hospitalizations in the state.

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

There were 7,457 newly reported confirmed cases Wednesday.

Cases are increasing statewide, largely among unvaccinated populations.

– For the week of July 14-20, the average case rate among unvaccinated Californians is 20.7 per 100,000 per day and the average case rate among vaccinated Californians is significantly lower at 3.5 per 100,000 per day.

– The vast majority of new cases are among the unvaccinated with 600% higher case rates among the unvaccinated than for those who are vaccinated.

The 7-day positivity rate is 6.2%.

There have been 73,381,744 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 129,545 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.

As of July 29, providers have reported administering a total of 43,772,466 vaccine doses statewide. The CDC reports that 49,651,965 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 Workers

As of July 28, local health departments have reported 116,058 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 481 deaths statewide.

Stop the Spread: Get Vaccinated for COVID-19

The risk for COVID-19 exposure and infection continues as a number of Californians remain unvaccinated. With the emergence of the more transmissible Delta variant, there is a renewed urgency to get all eligible Californians vaccinated as quickly as possible and complete their two-dose vaccination process if they are receiving Pfizer or Moderna.

CDPH is reminding unvaccinated Californians that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, free and provides excellent protection from severe COVID-19 illness, including the Delta variant, hospitalization, and death.

Individuals aged 12+ are eligible for vaccination. Visit myturn.ca.gov to make an appointment. Individuals aged 17 and younger may need the consent of a parent or legal guardian for vaccination. Visit Vaccinate All 58 to learn more about the safe and effective vaccines available.

Testing Turnaround Time

The testing turnaround time dashboard reports how long California patients are waiting for COVID-19 test results. During the week of July 18 to July 24, the average time patients waited for test results was one day. During this same time period, 81% of patients received test results in one day and 94% received them within two days.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)

As of July 26, there have been 583 cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) 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.

Keep California Healthy
Protect yourself, family, friends and your community by following these prevention measures:

– Get vaccinated when it’s your turn. Californians age 16+ are eligible to make an appointment.

– If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches), call your health care provider.

– If you believe you have been exposed, get tested. Free, confidential testing is available statewide.

– Keep gatherings small and outdoors and follow state and local public health guidance.

– Wear a mask and get the most out of masking – an effective mask has both good fit and good filtration.

– Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

– Delay non-essential travel outside of California until you are fully vaccinated. Follow California’s travel advisory.

– Avoid close contact with people who are sick and stay home from work and school if you feel ill.

– Add your phone to the fight by signing up for COVID-19 exposure notifications from CA Notify.

– Answer the call or text if a contact tracer from the CA COVID Team or your local health department tries to connect.

Additional data and udpates:

Tracking COVID-19 in California

State Dashboard – Daily COVID-19 data

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

COVID-19 Race & Ethnicity Data – Weekly updated Race & Ethnicity data

Cases and Deaths by Age Group – Weekly updated Deaths by Age Group data

Health Equity Dashboard – See how COVID-19 highlights existing inequities in health

Tracking Variants – Data on the variants California is currently monitoring

Safe Schools for All Hub – Information about safe in-person instruction

School Districts Reopening Map – data on public schools and reported outbreaks

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.