The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Tuesday 18 new deaths and 790 new cases of COVID-19, with 6,608 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.

To date, Public Health identified 283,750 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 6,790 deaths. Tuesday’s number of new cases and deaths reflect a reporting lag over the holiday.

There are 692 confirmed cases of COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 27% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU.

Through the pandemic, Public Health has tracked the number of positive cases and deaths among healthcare workers related to the COVID-19 pandemic response. There have been a total 99 deaths and 16,080 positive cases among healthcare workers and first responders in Los Angeles County. The number of new weekly cases among healthcare workers has declined from 704 new cases reported for the week of July 4 to 368 new cases reported last week.

Two-thirds of cases among healthcare workers occurred among women (68%) and the majority of COVID-19 related deaths in healthcare workers/first responders have occurred among men (55%). Nurses continue to account for the majority of positive cases (36%) and deaths (43%) among healthcare workers. Half of the healthcare workers identified with COVID-19 are Latino/Latinx, origin (50%), and nearly half are between 30 and 40 years old (46%). Cases have been identified among 29 different occupational settings and skilled nursing/long-term care facilities continue to have the highest proportion of cases (33%).

California Tuesday Snapshot
Statewide, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 852,406, with 16,581 deaths from the disease. There are 2,226 confirmed hospitalizations and 626 ICU hospitalizations in California.

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

There were 2,378 newly recorded confirmed cases Monday. Numbers do not represent true day-over-day change as these results include cases from prior to yesterday.

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

There have been 16,333,717 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 142,376 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. 27 – Oct. 3, 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. 12, local health departments have reported 41,484 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 192 deaths statewide.

Santa Clarita Valley Tuesday Update
As of 5:35 p.m. Tuesday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard, remains unchanged from Monday. Of the 67 SCV residents who have died since the pandemic began, 55 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, 1 in unincorporated Valencia and 1 in a community not yet identified.

Of the 6,608 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 3,824

Castaic: 2,118 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 184

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion):157

Val Verde: 88

Acton: 77

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 50

Agua Dulce: 30

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 28

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 14

Bouquet Canyon: 10

Saugus/Canyon Country: 10

Elizabeth Lake: 7

Sand Canyon: 7

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
On Monday, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia reported its 26th COVID-19 death at the hospital since the pandemic began, hospital spokesman Patrick 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, he said.

As of Monday, Oct. 12, of the 9,101 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 953 tested positive, 10,756 were negative, 4 were pending, 15 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (up 6 from last week), and a total of 274 COVID-19 patients have been treated and 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.

L.A. County

“We send our deepest sympathies to the friends and families across L.A. County who have lost a loved one to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “I would like to thank the businesses that continue to do their part to minimize COVID-19 spread by adhering to the Health Officer Order protocols. Recent inspections at newly opened sectors, including nail salons, beauty salons, indoor shopping malls and cardrooms found the majority of businesses were in compliance with the safety directives.”

Testing results are available for more than 2,838,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive. If you have symptoms or think you were exposed to someone with COVID-19 or if you were in a crowd or gathering where people were close together and not wearing face coverings and/or keeping their distance you should get tested.

Testing does not protect you from either infecting others or becoming infected yourself. Please remember testing is not a replacement for infection control practices. A negative test result only means you were negative at the moment your specimen was taken. A person who has recently tested negative for the virus could test positive within hours of testing and have the ability to infect other people unknowingly.

For more information about getting tested, visit covid19.lacounty.gov/testing or call the County’s 2-1-1 information line.

Of the 18 new deaths reported Tuesday, 11 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, five people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and two people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. Fifteen people who died had underlying health conditions including 10 people over the age of 80, four people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and one person between the ages of 50 and 64 years old.

Ninety-three 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 6,397 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 23% among White residents, 14% 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, 22 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

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. 13, 111 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.