Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials confirmed Wednesday 102 new deaths and 15,664 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, with 69,361 total cases in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Schools across the county continue implementing safety measures that are helping to drive down several COVID metrics among students and staff. For the week of January 24-28, schools conducted 486,616 tests that resulted in 21,472 positive tests (with 14,872 positive tests from LAUSD). This is a 47% decrease from the 40,694 positive tests from the week prior. The test positivity rate also decreased by 37% to 4.4% compared to 7% for the week prior.

While test positivity and the number of positive tests in schools continue to decline, the number of outbreaks increased slightly. As of January 31, there were 52 active school outbreaks, including 18 new outbreaks (14 in elementary schools, three in youth sports, and one in a high school) between January 23-29. Although the number of new outbreaks in schools rose, the number is relatively modest thanks to school-based safety measures, including masking and testing, that reduce spread.

Public Health continues working with schools across the county to implement a comprehensive strategy that includes over 900 school-based vaccine clinics scheduled for February where first, second and third doses will be available. Additionally, Public Health has begun distributing an additional 1 million home test kits this week to public, charter, and independent/private schools in areas of high need through partnerships with the LA County Office of Education and Heluna Health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also approved an additional 615,000 professional rapid tests for LA County schools through the White House rapid test kit program and the state is delivering over 170,000 at-home test kits this week to be distributed to schools.

This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the license for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after a thorough evaluation of the quality, safety, and effectiveness data by a panel of scientific and medical experts. The vaccine is now fully approved for use in people 18 and older. Since the Moderna vaccine received FDA emergency use authorization on December 18, 2020, more than 204 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the US according to data from the CDC.

“We send our deepest sympathies and wishes for peace and comfort to the many families who have lost a loved one due to COVID-19,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “We hope that with full approval of the Moderna vaccine, which follows full approval a few months back of the Pfizer vaccine, residents and workers are reassured about the safety and effectiveness of the mRNA vaccines distributed in the United States. Our county data continues to demonstrate the protections offered by vaccination and the importance of using vaccines to reduce the spread and limit the ability of virus replication that could result in problematic variants. To date, we’re closing in on nearly one million children across all LA County who’ve safely received the vaccine. We urge parents and students to attend one of the 900 school-based vaccination clinics this month if they are not yet vaccinated or need a booster dose.”

Today, Public Health confirmed 102 additional deaths and 15,664 new cases of COVID-19. Of the 102 new deaths reported today, two people were between the ages of 30 and 49, 18 were between the ages of 50 and 64, 37 were between the ages of 65-79, and 41 were over the age of 80 years old. Of the 102 newly reported deaths, 88 had underlying conditions. Information on the four deaths reported by the City of Long Beach is available at www.LongBeach.gov To date, the total number of deaths in L.A. County is 29,099.

Public Health has identified a total 2,683,644 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County. Today’s positivity rate is 8.8%.

There are 3,515 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Testing results are available for more than 11,091,800 individuals, with 22% of people testing positive.

Emergency Room Visits

Public Health is reminding residents to avoid visiting the emergency room unless they need emergency medical care. Residents should not be visiting the emergency department solely to get a COVID test or for minor complaints that could be resolved through their primary care physician. Emergency room visits should be reserved for those patients who are feeling severely ill, for example, those who are short of breath, or who have serious concerns about their health and who require immediate emergency care.

Business Compliance

Public Health continues to see high compliance across many different business sectors with Health Officer Order masking requirements indicating support for reasonable measures that keep employees and customers safe during the pandemic.

With the proliferation of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, as of Jan. 17, employers are also now required to provide employees who work indoors in close contact with others with well-fitting medical masks, surgical masks, or higher-level respirators, such as N95 or KN95 masks. These upgraded masks are better at blocking virus particles, providing additional protection to workers and customers.

Between Jan. 21-27, Public Health conducted more than 1,400 site inspections to assess mask and vaccination compliance across a variety of L.A County businesses. Compliance was near or above 90% among restaurants, bars, night clubs, lounges, breweries, food markets, hotels, and food manufacturing plants for customer wearing masks, employees wearing upgraded masks, and vaccination verification when applicable. Compliance for customer and employee mask wearing was around 80% in gyms, and compliance for employee mask wearing at garment manufacturers was 74%.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital

At the time of publication updated numbers for Henry Mayo have not been released, the following so from yesterday’s roundup.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported one additional death from COVID-19, bringing the total number to 210 since the onset of the pandemic, hospital officials confirmed Tuesday.

Currently, the hospital has one test pending, 69 patients in the hospital, and a total of 2,055 patients who have been treated and discharged since the pandemic began.

Privacy laws prohibit the hospital from releasing the community of residence for patients who die there; that info is reported by the L.A. County Public Health COVID-19 dashboard, which generally lags 48 hours behind.

To keep workplaces and schools open, residents and workers are asked to:

– Get tested to help reduce the spread, especially if you traveled for the holidays, have had a possible exposure, or have symptoms, or are gathering with people not in your household

– Adhere to masking requirements when indoors or at crowded outdoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status

– Residents are legally required to be isolated if they have a positive COVID test result and vaccinated close contacts with symptoms and unvaccinated close contacts need to be quarantined.

For information on where you can get tested, please visit www.covid19.lacounty.gov/testing/.

For updated isolation and quarantine guidance, please visit www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective and are recommended for everyone 5 years old and older to help protect against COVID-19. Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status. Appointments are not needed at all Public Health vaccination sites and many community sites where first, second, and third doses are available.

To find a vaccination site near you, or to make an appointment, please visit:

www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) or

www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish).

William S. Hart Union High School District COVID-19 Dashboard

The William S. Hart Union High School District provides ongoing information to our community regarding COVID-19 cases while maintaining confidentiality for our students and staff. The COVID-19 case data below is updated regularly to indicate any currently confirmed COVID-19 positive case in staff members or students by school site. The data below is specific to individuals who have been physically present on a District campus within 14 days of receiving a positive COVID-19 test. The District, in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, conducts contact tracing and directly notifies and provides resources for parents of students identified as close contacts, 6 feet or less for 15 cumulative minutes or more.

Note: To see the communication process in the event of a positive COVID-19 case, visit https://www.hartdistrict.org/apps/pages/covid-19dashboard.

Student Dashboard

Staff Dashboard

Santa Clarita Valley Tuesday Update
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard reports no additional deaths from COVID-19 in the Santa Clarita Valley: leaving the number of COVID-19 deaths to date at 399.

The following is the community breakdown per L.A. County’s dashboard:

Santa Clarita: 323

Castaic: 27

Acton: 15

Unincorporated Canyon Country: 10

Stevenson Ranch: 9

Agua Dulce: 5

Val Verde: 3

Valencia: 2

Unincorporated Bouquet Canyon: 2

Elizabeth Lake: 1

Newhall: 1

unincorporated Saugus/Canyon Country: 1

Lake Hughes: 0 (**revised from 1)

SCV Cases

Of the 69,361 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

City of Santa Clarita: 51,547

* Castaic: 6,870

Stevenson Ranch: 3,817

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 2,459

Acton: 1,430

Val Verde: 799

Agua Dulce: 758

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 644

Saugus (unincorporated portion):  302

Elizabeth Lake: 189

Bouquet Canyon: 145

Lake Hughes: 136

Saugus/Canyon Country: 87

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 84

Sand Canyon: 46

San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon: 33

Placerita Canyon: 15

*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.

California Tuesday

Statewide COVID-19 Data

Cases, hospitalizations and deaths are largely occurring among unvaccinated populations. See the data for unvaccinated and vaccinated cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Vaccinations

– 69,708,035 total vaccines administered.

– 82% of the eligible population (5+) has been vaccinated with at least one dose.

– 112,386  people a day are receiving COVID-19 vaccination (average daily dose count over 7 days).

Cases

– California has 7,941,318 confirmed cases to date.

– Tuesday’s average case count is 72,700 (average daily case count over 7 days).

– Unvaccinated people are 7.5 times more likely to get COVID-19 than boosted individuals (week of Jan 16).

Testing

– The testing positivity rate is 13.4% (average rate over 7 days).

Hospitalizations

– There are 12,995 hospitalizations statewide.

– There are 2,435 ICU patients statewide.

– Unvaccinated people are 14.9 times more likely to be hospitalized than boosted individuals (week of Jan 9).

Deaths

– There have been 79,621COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

– COVID-19 claims the lives of 92 Californians each day (average daily death count over 7 days).

– Unvaccinated people are 30 times more likely to die than boosted individuals (week of Jan 2).

Health Care Workers

Note: There has been no update of positive cases among health care workers since Jan. 6. As of Jan. 6, local health departments have reported 136,816 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 540 deaths statewide.

Testing Turnaround Time

The testing turnaround time dashboard reports how long California patients are waiting for COVID-19 test results. During the week of Jan. 16 to Jan. 22, the average time patients waited for test results was 1.8 days. During this same time period, 58% of patients received test results in one day and 75% received them within two days.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)

As of Jan. 31, there have been 803 cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) reported statewide. 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.

Keep California Healthy
Protect yourself, family, friends and your community by following these prevention measures:

– Get vaccinated when it’s your turn. Californians age 16+ are eligible to make an appointment.

– If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches), call your health care provider.

– If you believe you have been exposed, get tested. Free, confidential testing is available statewide.

– Keep gatherings small and outdoors and follow state and local public health guidance.

– Wear a mask and get the most out of masking – an effective mask has both good fit and good filtration.

– Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

– Delay non-essential travel outside of California until you are fully vaccinated. Follow California’s travel advisory.

– Avoid close contact with people who are sick and stay home from work and school if you feel ill.

– Add your phone to the fight by signing up for COVID-19 exposure notifications from CA Notify.

– Answer the call or text if a contact tracer from the CA COVID Team or your local health department tries to connect.

Additional data and udpates:

Tracking COVID-19 in California

State Dashboard – Daily COVID-19 data

County Map – Local data, including tier status and ICU capacity

Data and Tools – Models and dashboards for researchers, scientists, and the public

Blueprint for a Safer Economy– Data for establishing tier status

COVID-19 Race & Ethnicity Data – Weekly updated Race & Ethnicity data

Cases and Deaths by Age Group – Weekly updated Deaths by Age Group data

Health Equity Dashboard – See how COVID-19 highlights existing inequities in health

Tracking Variants – Data on the variants California is currently monitoring

Safe Schools for All Hub – Information about safe in-person instruction

School Districts Reopening Map – data on public schools and reported outbreaks

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.