The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed 58 new deaths and 1,642 new cases of COVID-19, with a total of 5,269 cases and 53 deaths reported among Santa Clarita Valley residents since the pandemic began.

To date, Public Health has identified 235,386 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 5,663 deaths.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to everyone who has lost a loved one or friend to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.

There are 1,186 patients with confirmed cases currently hospitalized in L.A. County, 32% of them in the ICU. The number of daily hospitalizations continues to decrease. Daily hospitalizations peaked at 2,200 patients in mid-July.

“We are grateful to see this number come down,” Ferrer said. “We need to continue taking all the steps we have these past weeks so that community transmission rates are low enough for us to continue our recovery journey.”

Test results are available for more than 2,221,000 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.

The state is monitoring all counties to determine their progress in slowing the spread of COVID-19. L.A. County must stay below 100 cases per 100,000 people 14-day case rate thresholds for three consecutive days to be removed from the state’s COVID-19 county monitoring list.

As of Wednesday, the 14-day case rate for L.A. County is 198 cases per 100,000 residents.

California Wednesday Snapshot
Statewide, as of Tuesday, August 25, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 679,099 COVID-19 cases (up 6,004), with 12,407 deaths from the disease (up 150). There are 4,365 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,172 ICU hospitalizations in the state.

California’s 7-day positivity rate is 5.8% and the 14-day positivity rate is 6.1%.

As of August 25, local health departments have reported 30,829 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 146 deaths statewide.

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

COVID Around the World: USA Tops in Cases, Deaths
Worldwide, 24,011,502 people have been infected by COVID-19 while 822,167 people have died as of 3:28 Wednesday afternoon, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 5,816,968 Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, while the number of people in the U.S. who have died due to the virus has surpassed 179,565.

The United States has the highest case and death rate in the world. By comparison, Brazil, at #2, had confirmed 3.669 million cases and 116,580 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon.

Santa Clarita Valley Wednesday Update
The L.A. County Public Health COVID-19 data dashboard as of the latest update at 8 p.m. Monday, August 24 confirms 53 SCV residents have died of the virus since the pandemic began.

Of the dead, 41 lived in the city of Santa Clarita, 5 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 5,269 cases reported to Public Health among SCV residents to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 2,881

Castaic: 1,893 (most from Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 147

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 114

Acton: 59

Val Verde: 59

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 40

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 26

Agua Dulce: 24

Bouquet Canyon: 6

Elizabeth Lake: 6

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 6

Sand Canyon: 5

Lake Hughes: 2

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 Wednesday Update
Henry Mayo now releases statistics weekly, on Wednesdays, unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a COVID-related death has been confirmed.

As of Wednesday, August 26, of the 6,598 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 774 tested positive, 7,552 were negative, 4 were pending, 11 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (up from 7 the previous Wednesday), and a total of 232 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far. Fatalities at the hospital stand at 21, Moody confirmed.

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 Demographics
Of the 58 new deaths reported Wednesday, 24 people who died (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80 years old, 15 people were between 65 and 79 years old, nine people were between 50 and 64 years old and five people were between 30 and 49 years old.

Forty-three people had underlying health conditions including 20 people over 80 years old, 13 people between 65 and 79 years old, five people between 50 and 64 years old, and five people between 30 and 49 years old. Five deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach.

Countywide, 92% of people who died had underlying health conditions.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 5,330 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 50% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 24% 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.

No School Waiver Applications For Now
Public Health will not be opening up its waiver process for schools just yet.

“A very important part of our recovery is getting our children back to schools,” Ferrer said. “(On Tuesday), the state released new guidance about newly permitted activities at all schools across the state to help students at high risk and high need. We will be closely reviewing the new guidance from the state and will be working with the Board to ensure that our Health Officer Orders are adjusted to ensure that when schools open for any new activities, they do so with as much safely as possible for all children and staff.

“Given the need to review the implications of the new state guidance on school re-opening plans, at this point, we are not ready to open up our waiver process for schools,” she said.

COVID-Cases in Pregnant Women
L.A. County Public Health collects information regarding confirmed cases of COVID-19 among pregnant women. To date, 1,200 pregnant women have tested positive for the virus and 79% of these women were symptomatic. Tragically, two women who were pregnant passed away from COVID-19. Among the 193 infants tested for COVID-19 at birth, eight tested positive for the virus and 185 tested negative.

Public Health encourages pregnant women and new mothers to take extra care to avoid being infected. Expecting and new moms should stay home as much as possible.

If you must go out, wear a cloth face covering, keep physical distance from anyone who is not from your household, and wash hands frequently.

If you are sick or positive for COVID-19 and breastfeeding, wear a mask while breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, and be sure to wash your hands before touching the baby or any pump or bottle before using.

If possible, ask someone else to feed the baby your breastmilk by bottle. More detailed guidance for expecting and new moms can be found on the Public Health website (links below).

Healthcare Workers COVID Cases
There have been a total 83 deaths and a total of positive 13,626 cases among healthcare workers and first responders in L.A. County.

Nurses continue to account for the majority of deaths among healthcare workers at 42%.

Skilled nursing and assisted living facilities account for one-third of the healthcare workers who have tested positive for the virus and hospitals account for 26%.

Skilled Nursing Facilities
Public Health continues to survey skilled nursing facilities in L.A. County on their compliance with mandated COVID-19 testing and on COVID-19 cases and outbreaks.

All 341 skilled nursing facilities responded and provided information about testing and new cases for the week of August 9.

From August 9 through August 15, testing was completed for 12,793 nursing home residents and for 21,581 staff. Out of the 341 facilities, 190 were classified as having an outbreak, and of these skilled nursing facilities, 123 did not report any additional cases.

One hundred and fifty-one facilities were classified as not having an outbreak, and 130 of these did not report any positive test results from this round of testing.

The 21 skilled nursing facilities that reported one or more positive cases are required to test all their residents and staff to control any outbreak.

L.A. County Public Health’s 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.

Here’s the incident report for Wednesday, August 26:

[Open .pdf in new window]

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California County Monitoring Data
As of Wednesday, a total of 34 California counties including Los Angeles and Ventura are required to close indoor operations for certain sectors based on the July 13 order to slow community transmission.

Counties on the County Monitoring List for three or more consecutive days must have closed indoor operations for additional activities.

The July 13 order specifies that these indoor operations shall remain closed, even when a county is removed from the county monitoring list until the state health officer modifies the order and authorizes re-opening. The state is actively reassessing the July 13 order in light of evolving scientific evidence regarding disease transmission and the risk of transmission in different settings and will provide updates in the coming week.

For more information, visit the County Data Monitoring webpage.

California Testing
There have been 10,832,757 tests conducted in California, an increase of 70,251 over the prior 24-hour reporting period.

More than 85 community testing sites offer free, confidential testing: Find a COVID-19 Testing Site.

The CDPH released updated testing guidance on July 23 that focuses on testing hospitalized individuals with signs or symptoms of COVID-19 and people being tested as part of the investigation and management of outbreaks, including contact tracing.

The testing guidance also prioritizes individuals who have COVID-19 symptoms and individuals without symptoms who fall into high-risk categories, including people who live and work in nursing homes, homeless shelters and prisons, healthcare workers, and patients in hospitals.

The new guidance will ensure that Californians who most need tests get them even if there are limited supplies.

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 more than one-and-a-half times their population representation across all adult age categories. For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, overall numbers are low, but almost double 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

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 August 24, there have been 47 cases of MIS-C reported statewide, an increase of 8 over the previous week.

To protect patient confidentiality in counties with fewer than 11 cases, CDPH is 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 are critical to preventing long-term complications.

Protect Yourself and Your Family
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 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

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.

It’s important if someone thinks they could be positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting testing results to stay at home and act as if they are positive. This means self-isolating for 10 days and 72 hours after symptoms and fever subside.

If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they should plan on receiving a call from a public health specialist to discuss how to protect themselves and others, to find out where they may have been, and who they were in close contact with while infectious.

California COVID-19 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.

* 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)

Consolidated guidance is available on the California Department of Public Health’s Guidance webpage.

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Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about novel coronavirus (COVID-19):

* Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

* California Department of Public Health

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

* Spanish

* World Health Organization

* Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard

L.A. County residents can also call 2-1-1.

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