The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Tuesday 40 new deaths, including a new death in the city of Santa Clarita, and 810 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with a total of 5,847 cases in the SCV.

To date, Public Health has identified 262,133 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 6,401 deaths.

Public Health is closely monitoring the number of daily hospitalizations related to COVID-19. Unlike the daily number of cases, which reflects the number of people tested in L.A. County, the number of hospitalizations is a stable indicator representing the number of people who are seriously ill from COVID-19. During the pandemic we have seen increases in the numbers of hospitalizations three to four weeks after an event where there was widespread transmission of COVID-19, including after holiday weekends or sector re-openings.

The County continues to see the number of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations decline from the July 20 peak of a 3-day average of over 2,200 hospitalizations. There are 745 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 28% of these people are in the ICU. Even in the last month, since the end of August, there has been a significant decrease from an average of 1,200 daily hospitalizations to the average this past week of under 800 hospitalizations per day. We are hoping that we do not see an increase in the number of daily hospitalizations in the upcoming weeks associated with activities that occurred over the Labor Day holiday.

It is important for all L.A. County residents to remember that COVID-19 is responsible for many people becoming seriously ill. Throughout this pandemic thousands of people have had long hospital stays and many may still be feeling the effects of their sickness weeks or even months later. People of all ages have underlying health conditions, like asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and conditions that weaken a person’s immune system, and are at greater risk of having serious illness if infected with COVID-19. For this reason, it is crucial that all residents continue to assume the people around them may have an underlying health condition and to use all the tools we have for protecting others from the virus: keep physical distance of at least 6 feet and wear a cloth face covering whenever outside your home and around others; wash or sanitize hands frequently; get tested if you are having symptoms of COVID-19; isolate if you are positive for the virus; and quarantine if you have been a close contact of someone who has tested positive.

According to the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, Los Angeles County has met the metric thresholds for Tier 2 (Substantial risk level). Per the State guidelines, Los Angeles County must continue to meet these metric thresholds for two consecutive weeks before moving into Tier 2. The State also announced that counties may now make their own determination to allow nail salons to resume indoor operations. Public Health will be consulting with the Board of Supervisors to determine the timing of adopting changes to the County Health Officer Order that would allow nail salons to resume modified indoor operations.

California Tuesday Snapshot
Statewide, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 784,324, with 15,071 deaths from the disease. There are 2,632 confirmed hospitalizations and 799 ICU hospitalizations in California.

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

There were 2,630 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 2.8% and the 14-day positivity rate is 3.0%.

There have been 13,804,055 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 131,273 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 September 6 to September 12, 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 90 percent received them within two days The testing turnaround time dashboard (PDF) is updated weekly.

As of Sept. 22, 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 Sept. 21, local health departments have reported 37,267 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 177 deaths statewide.

Santa Clarita Valley Tuesday Update
As of 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, the L.A. County Public Health COVID-19 data dashboard reported the 58th death of COVID-19 in the Santa Clarita Valley. Of those SCV deaths, 47 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 5,847 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 3,349

Castaic: 1,943 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 159

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 132

Val Verde: 69

Acton: 69

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 42

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 27

Agua Dulce: 26

Elizabeth Lake: 7

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 7

Bouquet Canyon: 7

Sand Canyon: 6

Lake Hughes: 3

Saugus/Canyon Country: 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 Tuesday Update
As of Wednesday, Sept. 16 – the last day when the most recent numbers were released – of the 7,664 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 839 tested positive, 8,925 were negative, 23 were pending, 14 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (two more than the previous Wednesday), and a total of 244 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far, according to hospital spokesman Patrick Moody. COVID-19 fatalities at Henry Mayo stand at 22.

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

“Our hearts go out to all who are mourning loved ones and friends who have passed away from COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Public Health is heartened that Los Angeles County has met the thresholds that may allow us in the near future to move into Tier 2 of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. We plan to closely monitor our data to understand how effectively we are slowing the spread of COVID-19 after the Labor Day holiday and the impact of re-opening schools for high need students and re-opening hair salons for indoor operations. We thank Los Angeles County residents, workers, and businesses who have continued to take the steps needed to slow the spread, including wearing their face coverings, physically distancing, and not gathering with people outside their household.”

Of the 40 new deaths reported Tuesday, 15 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, 12 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, seven people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, four people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old, and one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. Twenty-seven people who died had underlying health conditions including eleven people over the age of 80, nine people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and four people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and three people between the ages of 30 to 49 years old. One death was reported by the City of Pasadena.

Testing results are available for more than 2,563,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive.

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 6,022 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, 123 cases and five deaths 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 Sept. 21, 88 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.

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