The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 61 new deaths due to COVID-19 and 1,956 new cases of the virus, including a new death in the city of Santa Clarita.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, Public Health has reported 5,060 confirmed COVID cases and 52 deaths since the pandemic began, 41 of the dead were city residents.

The number of new cases reported Wednesday includes a backlog of 100 test results received from the state and a few hundred cases from a lab that delayed reporting yesterday.

Backlog cases from the state electronic lab report are still anticipated. Data sources that track other key indicators, including hospitalizations and deaths, are not affected by this ELR reporting issue.

To date, Public Health has identified 225,827 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 5,392 deaths.

There are 1,378 people with confirmed cases currently hospitalized, with 32% of them in the ICU and 19% on ventilators.

Test results are now available for more than 2,121,000 county residents, with 10% of all people testing positive.

Data continue to expose disproportionality in health outcomes by race, ethnicity and income. However, Public Health sees signs of progress in closing the gaps. (More on that later in this report.)

California Wednesday Snapshot
Statewide, as of Tuesday, August 18, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 638,831 COVID-19 cases (up 6,164), with 11,523 deaths from the disease (up 181). There are 5,058 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,421 ICU hospitalizations in California.

The 7-day positivity rate is 6.3% and the 14-day positivity rate is 6.6%.

As of August 18, local health departments have reported 28,953 confirmed positive cases in healthcare workers and 143 deaths statewide.

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

COVID Around the World: USA Still Tops Chart
Worldwide, 22,244,179 people have been infected by COVID-19 while 783,525 people have died as of 2:27 Wednesday afternoon, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 5,516,639 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 172,667.

The United States has the highest case and death rate in the world. By comparison, Brazil, at #2, had confirmed 3.4 million cases and 109,888 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 confirms 52 SCV residents have died of the virus since the pandemic began.

Of the dead, 41 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 5,060 cases reported to Public Health among SCV residents to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 2,716

Castaic: 1,878 (most from Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 140

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 106

Val Verde: 55

Acton: 54

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 39

Agua Dulce: 24

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 22

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 Newhall Hospital reported its 21st COVID-related death on Friday, August 7, according to Patrick Moody, hospital spokesman. Due to privacy constraints, the hospital does not disclose patients’ cities of residence.

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 19, of the 6,236 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 748 tested positive, 7,075 were negative, 22 were pending, 7 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (down from 9 the previous Wednesday and 25 the week before that), and a total of 226 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: Narrowing the Racial, Ethnic, Income Gaps
Latino residents are dying at rates far higher than other groups and were at 6 deaths per 100,000 people at the peak of transmission in July. This was 6 times higher than the rate for white residents at 1.3 deaths per 100,000 people. Now the death rate among Latino residents is 2.4 deaths per 100,000 people. While decreasing, this is still 2.5 times higher than white residents.

Black residents had a rate at 4 deaths per 100,000 people during the peak of transmission in July which was 3 times higher than white residents. Now, the mortality rate for Black residents is 1.7 deaths per 100,000 people, only slightly higher than that of White residents.

At its peak, on June 10, the mortality rate for people living in communities with the fewest resources was 7 deaths per 100,000 people. This is 7 times higher than that of people who were living in communities with the most resources, who had a death rate of 1 death per 100,000 people.

On August 9, the death rate among people who live in areas with the fewest resources was 4.6 deaths per 100,000 people. This is 4 times that of the death rate of people who were living in the highest-resourced communities who continue to have a mortality rate at 1 per 100,000 people.

This represents a decrease from 7 times to 4 times.

It’s still an extraordinary gap and stands for a lot of disproportionately and the devastation among the Latino/Latinx community, but some of our efforts may be starting to show our ability to narrow the gap.

More L.A. County Demographics
Of the 61 new deaths reported Wednesday, 26 people who died (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80 years old, 20 people were between 65 and 79 years old, six people were between 50 and 64 years old, three people were between 30 and 49 years old, and one person was between 18 and 39 years old.

Thirty-eight people had underlying health conditions including 17 people over the age of 80 years old, 14 people between 65 and 79 years old, four people between 50 and 64 years old, and three 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.

Upon further investigation, 160 cases and four deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 5,072 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.

Non-Compliance Investigations
Public Health has increased the number of investigations for non-compliance of the Health Officer Order from 2,877 investigations in March to 9,683 investigations in July.

To date, there have been investigations at almost 30,000 workplaces. In the month of April, 30 businesses were closed for violations of the Health Officer Order.

This number has decreased to 23 businesses closed for the month of July. Even as more inspections occurred in July than in April, there were less closures because most businesses have come into compliance with Health Officer Order directives.

Public Health is hopeful more businesses will continue to come into compliance.

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.

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California County Monitoring Data
As of Wednesday, a total of 40 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.

Placer County has been removed from the list.

If a county should have moved off the list while the list was frozen, that date is being calculated retroactively. The calculation will use the first date after three consecutive days of being under the threshold for the county data monitoring metrics.

If a county moved onto the list during the period the list was frozen (August 1-16), to implement sector closures in compliance with the July 13 order, new closures must be effective by 11:59 p.m. on August 19.

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

California Testing
There have been 10,140,683 tests conducted in California, an increase of 91,644 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 18, there have been 39 cases of MIS-C have been reported statewide, an increase of 3 over the previous week.

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 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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