Los Angeles County Public Health on Wednesday confirmed 58 new deaths and 2,428 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with people younger than 50 years old accounting for 71% of the new cases.

There are 1,538 confirmed cases currently hospitalized in L.A. County, and 32% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU. Between March and July, adults ranging from 30 to 65 years old have made up the majority of hospitalized cases, with people in these age groups accounting for about 50% of all hospitalized cases.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, Public Health has confirmed 4,863 COVID-19 cases to date, including 2,548 cases in the city of Santa Clarita.

Since the pandemic began, Public Health has identified 214,197 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of the county, and a total of 5,109 deaths. The fatalities include 51 SCV residents, 40 of whom lived in the city of Santa Clarita.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those who have suffered the loss of someone they love to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, director of L.A. County Public Health. “As the number of deaths continues to rise, we join with others across the county to offer our heartfelt condolences.”

Test results are available for more than 1,984,000 county residents, with 10% of all people testing positive. The state electronic lab reporting problems have resulted in undercounting, affecting the number of COVID-19 cases reported each day and the county’s contact tracing efforts.

Given the ELR delays, Public Health urges any person with a positive lab result to call 1-833-540-0473 to connect with a public health specialist who can provide information about services and support. Residents who do not have COVID-19 should continue to call 211 for resources or more information.

California Snapshot
Statewide, as of Tuesday, August 11, the California Department of Public Health confirmed a total of 586,056 COVID-19 cases (up 11,645 — 5,433 reported for 8/11 plus 6,212 backlogged cases), with 10,648 deaths from the disease (up 180). There are 5,442 confirmed hospitalizations and 1,699 ICU hospitalizations in California.

As of August 11, local health departments have reported 27,150 confirmed positive cases in healthcare workers and 141 deaths statewide.

In the past few days, working in partnership with the California Department of Technology, CDPH cleared the data backlog reported last week and has continued processing new case records. Since Friday, CDPH has processed the roughly 300,000 backlogged CalREDIE records, including both negative and positive results.

The issue with the state’s electronic laboratory system that generated the backlog has been addressed and CDPH continues to closely monitor the performance of the system.

CDPH, along with the local public health departments, is processing the backlogged records and attributing cases to the correct reporting dates. As a result, the case counts reported Wednesday, and in the next few days, will include cases that would have been reported in earlier days and weeks – and are not an accurate representation of cases reported in the prior 24 hours.

COVID Around the World: USA No. 1
Worldwide, 20,439,274 people have been infected by COVID-19 while 745,229 have died as of 1:27 Wednesday afternoon, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 5,181,737 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 165,510.

The United States has the highest case and death rate in the world. Brazil, at #2, had confirmed 3.1 million cases and 103,026 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 reports 51 SCV residents have died of the virus since the pandemic began. Of the dead, 40 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 4,863 cases reported to Public Health among SCV residents to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 2,548

Castaic: 1,874 (includes Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility*)

Stevenson Ranch: 131

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 99

Acton: 54

Val Verde: 51

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 38

Agua Dulce: 22

Saugus (unincorporated portion): 21

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 6

Elizabeth Lake: 6

Sand Canyon: 5

Bouquet 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 is now releasing statistics on a weekly basis (Wednesdays) unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a COVID-related death has been confirmed.

As of Wednesday, August 12, of the 5,893 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 719 tested positive, 6,654 were negative, 29 were pending, 9 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care, and a total of 217 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far, as 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.

Latest L.A. County Guidelines for Institutions of Higher Education
Public Health also announced that Institutions of Higher Education would need to limit campus activities in the near term, as community transmission rates remain high.

Younger people between 18 to 30 years account for 25% to 30% of the newly reported infections.

Colleges and universities in L.A. County may continue their essential operations, but most academic instruction must continue to be done via distance learning.

Institutions may continue to offer in-person training and instruction only for students who are or will become part of the essential workforce and only for required activities that cannot be accomplished through virtual learning.

All other academic instruction must continue to be done via distance-learning.

Faculty and other staff may come to campus for the purpose of providing distance learning, and other activities related to the purposes above, as well as maintaining minimum basic operations.

Colleges and universities should limit their on-campus student residency to only providing housing for students who have no alternative housing options.

Collegiate sports may only proceed in compliance with all the California Department of Public Health Specific Interim Guidance for Collegiate Athletics.

“I know that our decision to delay fully re-opening colleges and universities is disheartening news for our students who were looking forward to life on campus,” Ferrer said. “But this postponement means that we will continue to slow the spread of COVID-19 and get to the point where we can return to campus when rates of community transmission are lower.

“Colleges and universities are an important driver of innovation, cultural vibrancy, and economic activity in the county,” Ferrer said. “At the same time, the very nature of the way colleges and universities operate creates a significant risk of outbreaks of COVID-19 among students, faculty and staff. And these risks extend beyond campus into the broader community. That is why we have made the difficult, but necessary decision to limit the reopening of these important institutions.”

Skilled Nursing Facilities
Public Health continues to monitor and support skilled nursing facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health surveyed all 340 skilled nursing facilities in the county on their compliance with mandated COVID-19 testing and all facilities responded.

A total of 14,100 nursing home residents were tested this past week and 2.8% were positive. A total of 22,166 staff were tested and 1.7% were positive.

These rates are considerably lower than rates of cases seen earlier in May and June and shows that these facilities are doing their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect our vulnerable elders.

Inequities are also tracked by race and ethnicity of individuals that have tragically passed away due to COVID-19 while either living or working at a skilled nursing facility.

Among residents, Latino/Latinx and White residents each make up about 30% of the skilled nursing facility deaths, followed by Asian residents at 21%, and Black/African American residents at 14%.

Among health care workers in skilled nursing facilities who died, 57% are Latino/Latinx, 37% are Asian, and Black/African American and White health care workers both account for 3% of deaths.

More L.A. County Demographics
Of the 58 new deaths reported Wednesday, 19 people who died (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80 years old, 24 people were between 65 and 79 years old, 11 people were between 50 and 64 years old, and three people were between 30 and 49 years old.

Forty-five people had underlying health conditions including 16 people over 80 years old, 17 people between 65 and 79 years old, nine people between 50 and 64 years old, and three people between 30 and 49 years old. One death was reported by the City of Long Beach.

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

Upon further investigation, 39 cases and six deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 4,801 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.

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
A total of 38 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.

See the complete list of counties here.

California Testing
There have been 9,303,467 tests conducted in California, an increase of 117,188 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 11, there have been 36 cases of MIS-C have been reported statewide, an increase of 7 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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