The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Wednesday 933 new cases of COVID-19 and 53 new deaths due to the virus countywide, while Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported two new deaths, bringing the SCV’s total fatalities to 20.

A total of 1,148 cases reported in the Santa Clarita Valley since the pandemic began, 13 more than reported Tuesday.

To date, of the 20 people who have died of the virus in the valley, 15 resided in the city of Santa Clarita, 1 in Acton, 1 in Castaic, and 3 in communities not yet named.

To date, Public Health has reported 48,700 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 2,195 deaths.

Ninety-three percent of people who died had underlying health conditions.

California had 98,980 confirmed cases and 3,884 deaths from COVID-19 as of May 26, an increase of 1.8 percent from Monday’s total of 3,814 fatalities. There were 3,114 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,095 ICU hospitalizations.

Nationally, the number of people who have died passed 100,000 Wednesday, less than four months after the pandemic first struck the United States in early February 2020.

Worldwide, the virus is raging in India, Brazil and much of Latin America, and South Korea reported a new wave of infections. More than 350,000 people have died as of May 27, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker.

Santa Clarita Valley Wednesday Update
Of the 1,148 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 701

Castaic: 322 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility)

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 37

Stevenson Ranch: 33

Val Verde: 21

Acton: 11

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 7

Agua Dulce: 7

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 4

Elizabeth Lake: 3

Lake Hughes: 1

Newhall Unincorporated portion): 1

Henry Mayo Wednesday Update
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported its 9th and 10th COVID-related deaths on Wednesday, both occurring in the last 36 hours, according to hospital spokesman Patrick Moody.

As of Wednesday, of the 1,555 persons tested at Henry Mayo to date, 208 tested positive, 1,289 were negative, 42 were pending and 9 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care. A total of 73 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far.

Discrepancies in the testing numbers are due to some patients being tested more than once, he said.

Ten of the SCV’s 20 fatalities to date have occurred at Henry Mayo, Moody confirmed Wednesday.

The hospital is now releasing numbers on a weekly basis (Wednesdays), unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a death has been confirmed, Moody said.

L.A. County Demographics
Thirty-five people who died were over the age of 65 years old; 14 people who died were between the ages of 41 and 65 years old, and two people who died were between the ages of 18 and 40 years old. Forty-three people had underlying health conditions including 30 people over the age of 65 years old, 12 people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old, and one person between the ages of 18 and 40 years old. Two deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 2,024 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health): 40% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 29% among White residents, 17% among Asian residents, 12% among African American residents, 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.

Upon further investigation, 55 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

L.A. County Testing
As of Wednesday, 6,283 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (13% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,477 people who are currently hospitalized, 27% of these people are in the ICU and 19% are on ventilators.

Testing capacity continues to increase in L.A. County, with testing results available for over 517,000 individuals and 8% of people testing positive.

L.A. County Healthcare Workers
Public Health continues tracking the number of positive cases and deaths among healthcare workers related to the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Public Health has confirmed 30 people who died from COVID-19 worked in a healthcare setting; 22 people who died worked in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, four people worked in hospitals, one person worked in a correctional facility, and one person worked in an outpatient facility. For one health care worker who passed away, their workplace setting is not specified.

A total of 4,861 confirmed cases of COVID-19 occurred among healthcare workers and first responders; this is an additional 563 new cases reported since the previous week.

Six percent of healthcare workers with COVID-19 have been hospitalized. Forty-six percent of cases are among nurses, though cases have been identified among a range of occupational roles, including caregivers, people who work in administration, physicians and medical assistants.

Fifty-nine percent of these cases reported a known source of exposure, and 80% of healthcare workers with known exposure reported being exposed in a healthcare facility.

Healthcare workers who are positive worked at 26 different occupational settings, with the vast majority of cases among healthcare workers from skilled nursing facilities and hospitals.

“For all of you who have lost someone you love to COVID-19, we are so sorry. Through this sad and difficult time, we keep you in our thoughts and prayers every day,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “The new Health Officer Order allows more sectors to reopen, adhering to strict distancing and infection control directives. Since none of us wants the recovery to lead to many more deaths, we need to do our part to take care of each other.

“This means being diligent about physical distancing and wearing cloth face coverings whenever you are around people who are not from your household,” Ferrer said. “These are our essential tools and we need to commit to always using them.”

May 26 Health Officer Order
A new Health Officer Order issued Tuesday, called “Safer at Work and in the Community,” allows for the reopening of houses of worship, office worksites, in-store shopping at retail establishments, including indoor malls and shopping centers, flea markets, swap meets and drive-in movie theaters.

Houses of worship can operate at 25% capacity or with a maximum of 100 people, whichever is lower, and retail establishments can operate at 50% capacity.

Pools, hot tubs and saunas that are in a multi-unit residence or part of a homeowners’ association can also open.

Political protests with limited numbers of participants are also allowed.

This Order aligns the county with the state’s orders.

Everyone must continue to follow distancing and infection control protocols and wear a clean cloth face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when in contact with other people not in your household.

Public and private gatherings of any number of people outside of a single household unit are still not permitted except for public protests and faith-bases services as described in the Order.

The Health Officer Order continues to require specific higher-risk businesses to remain closed and prohibit dining in at restaurants. Restaurants are still allowed to serve food to customers via delivery, take-out or drive-thru.

As the recovery journey continues, more people being around one another can result in more transmission of COVID-19, more cases, and more hospitalizations and deaths. Because there is a 14-day incubation period for COVID-19, the actions everyone takes today will impact where numbers are in two or three weeks.

Best Protection
The best protection against COVID-19 continues to be to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, self-isolate if you are sick, and to practice physical distancing and wear a clean face covering when in contact with others from outside your household.

People who have underlying health conditions remain at much greater risk for serious illness from COVID-19, so it will continue to be very important for the county’s vulnerable residents to stay at home as much as possible, to have groceries and medicine delivered, and to call their providers immediately if they have even mild symptoms.

L.A. County is in stage two of the five-stage Roadmap to Recovery and until the final stage five is reached, Health Officer Orders and directives will continue to ensure that we slow the spread of COVID-19 to prevent an overwhelming surge of COVID-19 cases at healthcare facilities.

The Health Officer Order, 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.

Read the L.A. County Health incident report for Wednesday, May 27 below:

[Open .pdf in new window]

California Demographics
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 there is nearly a four-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.

Testing in California
As testing capacity continues to increase across the state, the California Department of Public Health is working to expand access to COVID-19 testing. Testing should be used for medical evaluation of persons with symptoms of COVID-19 as well as for efforts by public health agencies and essential employers to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19.

As of May 26, 1,736,894 tests have been conducted in California and reported to the California Department of Public Health. This represents an increase of 40,498 tests over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

These numbers include data from commercial, private and academic labs, including Quest, LabCorp, Kaiser, University of California and Stanford, and the the 25 state and county health labs currently testing.

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.