The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has confirmed 30 new deaths and 990 new cases of confirmed COVID-19, with 6,364 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.

To date, Public Health has identified 275,856 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 6,681 deaths.

Testing results are available for more than 2,737,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive.

To date, Public Health has identified 1,846 cases among people experiencing homelessness. The weekly number of new cases among this group has declined significantly. Cases among people experiencing homelessness peaked the week of July 7 at 138 new cases. This week, there are 53 new cases among people experiencing homelessness. This includes 36 cases from previous weeks that were newly identified and were included in the new case totals.

To date, 44 people who were experiencing homelessness and two people who were working in shelters have passed away from COVID-19. Of the people who were experiencing homelessness who passed away, 21 were sheltered, 13 were unsheltered, and for 10 people who passed away, their sheltered status was unknown. There were no new deaths reported among people experiencing homelessness or shelter staff this week.

The number of cases among persons experiencing homelessness has remained below what was predicted during the early stages of the pandemic. This may be, in part, because of the County’s early efforts to offer housing for people experiencing homelessness, including single-room facilities for the most at risk of serious illness, and for those needing to quarantine or isolate. In addition, robust testing in shelters and a contact tracing approach tailored to people experiencing homelessness may have contributed to lower than expected cases.

Even before the pandemic, multiple studies have documented people experiencing homelessness have a mortality rate from three to eight times higher than those in the general population. In reviewing L.A. County Coroner’s preliminary data, COVID-19 deaths do not appear to be the main driver of excess mortality among persons experiencing homelessness. Public Health has seen an increase in drug overdoses among people experiencing homelessness. Drug overdoses accounted for 21% of deaths among persons experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County from 2013-2018. For the first 6 months of 2020, an estimated 40% of deaths among persons experiencing homelessness have been attributed to overdose.

This underscores the importance of ensuring that people experiencing homelessness are connected to support and interim housing, including access to health and substance use disorder services.

Public Health is preparing a more detailed report on deaths among people experiencing homelessness to be released in the coming month. “To the families grieving the loss of a loved one to COVID-19, we wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “While we have seen significant improvement since the summer, daily case numbers indicate COVID-19 continues to spread across L.A. County at high enough rates to limit the reopening of businesses and schools. If we work together to limit transmission and slow the spread of COVID-19 to 700 or less new cases per day, not only will the County move to a less restrictive tier that allows us to consider additional re-openings, we will save lives.”

California Tuesday Snapshot
Statewide, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 828,461, with 16,177 deaths from the disease. There are 2,344 confirmed hospitalizations and 681 ICU hospitalizations in California.

There were 1,677 newly recorded confirmed cases Monday. Numbers do not represent true day-over-day change as these results include cases from prior to Monday.

The 7-day positivity rate is 2.6% and the 14-day positivity rate is 2.7%.

There have been 15,430,421 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 128,740 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

As case numbers continue to rise in California, the total number of individuals who will have serious outcomes will also increase.

New Testing Turnaround Time Dashboard
The testing turnaround dashboard reports how long California patients are waiting for COVID-19 test results. California has worked to reduce testing turnaround times in recent weeks to help curb the spread of the virus. During the week of Sept. 20 – Sept. 26, the average time patients waited for test results was 1.2 days. During this same time period, 69 percent of patients received test results in 1 day and 92 percent received them within two days. The testing turnaround time dashboard (PDF) is updated weekly.

As of Sept. 22, 2020, California’s testing capacity and turnaround time have improved. As a result and until further notice, all four tiers in the Testing Prioritization Guidance originally dated July 14, 2020 will have equal priority for testing.

Health Care Worker Infection Rates
As of Oct. 5, local health departments have reported 40,142 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 190 deaths statewide.

Santa Clarita Valley Tuesday Update
As of 6:05 p.m. Tuesday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard, remains unchanged from Monday. Of the 65 SCV residents who have died, 54 lived in the city of Santa Clarita, 4 in Castaic, 2 in Acton, 2 in Stevenson Ranch, 1 in unincorporated Bouquet Canyon, 1 in Val Verde, and 1 in unincorporated Valencia.

Of the 6,364 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 3,637

Castaic: 2,096 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 175

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 147

Val Verde: 85

Acton: 73

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 48

Agua Dulce: 28

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 28

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 14

Bouquet Canyon: 9

Elizabeth Lake: 7

Sand Canyon: 7

Saugus/Canyon Country: 6

Lake Hughes: 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 Tuesday Update
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia on Friday reported its 25th COVID-19 death at the hospital since the pandemic began, according to hospital spokesman Patrick Moody.

As of Friday, Oct. 2, of the 8,571 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 906 tested positive, 10,082 were negative, 27 were pending, 9 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (three fewer the previous report), and a total of 266 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 releases statistics weekly, generally on Wednesdays, unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a COVID-related death has been confirmed.

L.A. County

Tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 7, indoor shopping malls will be allowed to reopen with occupancy limited to 25% capacity, and with all food courts and all common areas closed. Last week, Public Health released a timeline for reopening nail salons, indoor malls and outdoor cardrooms, outside playgrounds, and the school waiver application program for in-person learning for students in grades TK-2. Nail salons, outdoor cardrooms and outside playgrounds have been allowed to resume operations with the required modifications in place. The school waiver program also began accepting applications yesterday.

Of the 30 new deaths reported Tuesday, 13 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, nine people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, five people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and one person who died was between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Twenty-one people who died had underlying health conditions including 11 people over the age of 80, six people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and four people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. Two deaths were reported by the city of Pasadena.

Ninety-two percent of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 6,290 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 23% 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. Upon further investigation, 76 cases and two deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

There are 685 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 29% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU.

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 Tuesday

Blueprint for a Safer Economy

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, a statewide plan for reducing COVID-19 and keeping Californians healthy and safe. The plan 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.

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.

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)

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 Oct. 5, 104 cases of MIS-C have been reported statewide. 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 is critical to preventing long-term complications.

Racial Demographics – A More Complete Picture
The California Department of Public Health is committed to health equity and collecting more detailed racial and ethnic data that will provide additional understanding for determining future action. Health outcomes are affected by forces including structural racism, poverty and the disproportionate prevalence of underlying conditions such as asthma and heart disease among Latinos and African American Californians. Only by looking at the full picture can we understand how to ensure the best outcomes for all Californians.

The differences in health outcomes related to COVID-19 are most stark in COVID-19 deaths. We have nearly complete data on race and ethnicity for COVID-19 deaths, and we are seeing the following trends. 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 about double their population representation across all adult age categories. For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, overall numbers are low, but about three-fold difference 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.

New Data Portal
The state has launched a new, user-friendly data portal at COVID-19 Statewide Update that tracks COVID-19 cases statewide and by county, gender, age and ethnicity. The portal also outlines statewide hospitalizations and testing efforts. The data presented on the portal will be updated daily and will include additional information as it is available.

Your Actions Save Lives
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 such 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.

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.