The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 19 new deaths and 3,672 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with 30,550 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.

To date, Public Health has identified 1,315,313 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,739 deaths. Of the 19 new deaths reported Thursday, three people who passed away were over the age of 80, three people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, six people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64, three people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49, and one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 29. Two deaths were reported by the city of Long Beach and one death was reported by the city of Pasadena. While the number of people dying from COVID-19 remains relatively low, the seven-day average number of deaths, unfortunately has doubled in the past month, from three daily deaths to six daily deaths.

Although transmission in Los Angeles County remains at a high level, the County’s case rate dropped to 21.1 new cases per 100,000 residents, a decrease from last week’s rate of 24.1 cases per 100,000. Although Thursday’s rate will likely change somewhat over the coming days as additional test results are reported, this suggests the County’s rise in cases may be plateauing.

Thursday’s test positivity rate is 4.7%; a decrease of more than a full percentage point from last week’s rate of 5.8%.

Two and a half weeks ago, at the time of the Los Angeles County Health Officer Order requiring universal masking indoors, cases were doubling every 10 days; the much smaller increase the County is seeing now is what we hoped would happen after implementing an effective public health measure. This serves as a reminder that masking remains an effective way to slow transmission.

Indoor Masking
It is valuable to compare trends in L.A. County with those in the rest of the state after L.A. County became the only County with an indoors masking requirement on July 18. Comparing cases that occurred the week ending July 25 with those that occurred the week ending August 1, Los Angeles County experienced a 22% increase in cases from 16,000 cases to 20,000 cases. Meanwhile, across the remainder of the state, reported cases went from 29,400 during the week ending July 25 to 46,000 cases the week ending August 1, an increase of 57%. Although there may be reasons contributing to these differences beyond masking, data from around the world and from L.A. County have repeatedly shown that masking is a valuable layer of protection against transmission of respiratory viruses.

Hospitalizations
There are 1,279 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized; an increase of 361 people over the past week. Testing results are available for nearly 7,410,000 individuals with 17% of people testing positive. As schools and institutes of higher education return to session and their routine testing programs come back online, Public Health expects to see hundreds of thousands more test results each week and in parallel with those, significant increases in cases. Given that just about every death is preventable, these losses are particularly tragic.

Schools Reopening
Public Health recently revised the K-12 school reopening protocol so that changes will be in place when L.A. County’s children return to school. Face coverings will continue to be required indoors for everyone regardless of vaccination status, including during indoor PE classes, unless a person is alone in a room. Students who are exempt from mask wearing because of a documented disability or other condition should not be excluded from in-person education, and appropriate accommodations should be made on a case-by-case basis. Students who are excluded from campus because they elect not to wear a face covering should be offered alternative educational opportunities.

Public Health continues to recommend physical distancing as long as it does not interfere with full-time attendance for all students, and infection control remains essential.

Many schools have established routine testing programs to provide an additional layer of protection. All unvaccinated students and staff should be included in routine testing and where resources are sufficient, fully vaccinated individuals can also be included.

Every school will have a plan on how to manage cases and outbreaks and will notify Public Health whenever there are cases. All positive cases are required to isolate, and all close contacts of each case should be tested and are required to quarantine unless they are fully vaccinated and without any symptoms.

As a reminder, teens between 12 and 17 years old are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, a regimen of two doses given three weeks apart, and they are considered fully protected two weeks after their last dose. In addition to the 135 vaccine events that high schools and middle schools are planning countywide in August that the County is supporting, we continue to offer Pfizer vaccines to children at all County and City sites, and these vaccines are available at many other sites throughout the county.

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

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Thursday Update
As of Thursday, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital had zero tests pending, 33 patients hospitalized, a total of 1,323 patients treated and discharged since the pandemic began, with 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.

Santa Clarita Valley Thursday Update
As of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard recorded another death in Canyon Country, bringing the total of COVID-19 related deaths in the SCV to 312 since the pandemic began.

The following is the community breakdown of the 312 SCV residents who have died, according to the L.A. County dashboard:

269 in Santa Clarita

16 in Castaic (**revised initially from 18)

6 in Acton

6 in Stevenson Ranch

5 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 30,550 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 22,399

Castaic: 3,946

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

Stevenson Ranch: 1,338

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 944

Acton: 542

Val Verde: 361

Agua Dulce: 319

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 225

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 143

Elizabeth Lake: 87

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.

L.A. County

“We share our deepest condolences with all those who have lost friends, loved ones, and family and wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “We are extremely grateful to everyone who has helped reduce potential transmission by getting vaccinated and masking up. We recognize that, given the recent increases in cases, there is anxiety around school re-openings. While schools have been working closely with us over the summer to create environments that promote safety, there are steps parents and caregivers can take to help make back to school as safe as possible for young students. State and County protocols currently require universal masking when indoors on all school campuses, but every school has their own individual set of protocols and procedures. Communicating with your child’s school ahead of the start of the school year can help ensure you’re prepared to help educators keep students safe. If any of your children are 12 or older, please let them know about the importance of getting vaccinated and help them get to a vaccine site.”

As of Aug. 1, more than 11,158,934 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to people across Los Angeles County. Of these, 6,190,247 were first doses and 4,968,687 were second doses. Ninety percent of L.A. County seniors 65 and over, 72% of residents 16 and over, 71% of residents 12 and over have received one dose of vaccine and 53% of L.A. County teens between the ages of 12 and 17. Of the nearly 10.3 million L.A. County residents, including those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, 53% are fully vaccinated and 61% have received at least one dose.

Among the more than 5 million fully vaccinated people in L.A. County, Public Health identified 15,628 people fully vaccinated who tested positive for COVID-19 as of August 3; this is less than 1% of all vaccinated individuals. Of those who tested positive, 446 were hospitalized, up from 410 the week prior. This translates to a rate of 0.009% of all fully vaccinated people ending up hospitalized. Deaths in this group is also very low at 0.0008%, representing 41 people fully vaccinated that passed away. These small increases, while indicative that fully vaccinated people do become infected, and that more have become infected during this summer surge than before, still provide compelling evidence that fully vaccinated people remain at low risk for becoming infected and even lower risk for having a bad outcome if they are infected.

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 3,899,158 cases and 64,206 deaths to date. There are 5,121 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,112 ICU hospitalizations in the state.

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

There were 9,517 newly reported confirmed cases Wednesday.

Cases are increasing statewide, largely among unvaccinated populations.

– For the week of July 31, the average case rate among unvaccinated Californians is 33 per 100,000 per day and the average case rate among vaccinated Californians is significantly lower at 7 per 100,000 per day.

– The vast majority of new cases are among the unvaccinated with 470% higher case rates among the unvaccinated than for those who are vaccinated.

The 7-day positivity rate is 7.1%.

There have been 74,620,314 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 156,092 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.

As of August 5, providers have reported administering a total of 44,386,538 vaccine doses statewide. The CDC reports that 50,170,095 doses have been delivered to entities within the state. Numbers do not represent true day-to-day change as reporting may be delayedFor more vaccination data, visit the COVID-19 Vaccine Data Dashboard.

Health Care Workers

As of of Aug. 4, local health departments have reported 117,097 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 482 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 Aug. 2, there have been 589 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.