The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 181 new cases and one additional death from COVID-19 in the Santa Clarita Valley within the last week.

Public Health is now reporting COVID-19 data every Thursday. This is the most recent data from Aug. 24.

This new data brings Los Angeles County death totals to 36,618, case totals to 3,777,831 and Santa Clarita Valley case totals to 100,751 since March of 2020. SCV deaths from COVID-19 rise to 571.

Rise in Transmission for Fifth Consecutive Week

After a relatively calm summer, Public Health is reporting a rise in measures of COVID-19 transmission for the fifth consecutive week. To help mitigate the spread, Public Health is working with institutions and partners to provide information about and access to vaccinations, tests and therapeutics. Public Health continues to provide support and resources to skilled nursing facilities, where people are at higher risk for severe illness, and schools, where students and staff are indoors, in close contact with each other, for long periods of time.

The increase in COVID-19 circulation is likely the combined result of multiple factors, including summer travel, return to school and the emergence of new COVID-19 variant strains. Compared to other points during the pandemic, hospitalizations and deaths remain relatively low. However, people more vulnerable to severe illness and death, including people who are immunocompromised, older or in skilled nursing facilities, and the people they spend time with, should consider precautions to protect against COVID infection. These protections include wearing a well-fitting high filtration mask when in poorly ventilated and/or crowded indoor spaces and on public transit, testing when symptomatic and/or after a known COVID-19 exposure, remaining home when sick, and seeking therapeutics if infected.

In Los Angeles County this week, an average of 512 daily cases was reported, a nearly 35 percent increase from the week before. Reported cases do not include home tests, so the actual number of COVID infections in the community is much higher.

Wastewater concentrations of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, provide a more complete picture of virus levels in the community. This week, wastewater concentrations are at 28 percent of the 2022-23 winter peak and have been steadily increasing since July 12, when they were at 8 percent of the peak.

Based on the most recent COVID-19 variant sequencing in Los Angeles County as of July 22, XBB.1.5 and EG.5 now account for nearly equal proportions of COVID-19 cases, combined making up 31 percent of the total sequenced cases. XBB.2.3 accounts for the next highest proportion of sequenced cases followed by XBB.1.16.1.

Ninety-eight percent of currently circulating strains in Los Angeles County are descendants of Omicron XBB, including EG.5, which is what the fall COVID-19 vaccine, likely to be released next month, will target. Los Angeles County has not detected BA.2.86 in recently sampled sequences. BA.2.86 is being closely monitored because it has many mutations that may affect how our body responds to an infection.

Currently, Los Angeles County is reporting a daily average of 422 hospitalizations, a 30 percent increase from the week prior and there has also been a consistent, small increase in the proportion of emergency department visits attributed to COVID-19 over the past month. While hospitalizations are increasing, the current levels are still far lower than what was seen in 2022 during the summer peak, when there was an average of 1,287 COVID patients hospitalized each day.

When COVID-19 transmission increases, people residing in skilled nursing facilities are especially vulnerable. This week, the number of new outbreaks opened in skilled nursing facilities rose to 39, up from 20 the week prior and 13 four weeks ago. And while resulting hospitalizations and deaths among skilled nursing facility residents are lower than at other points during the pandemic, nonetheless, increased transmission of COVID-19 at nursing homes carries heightened risk for frail elderly.

As a result of the increased outbreaks, Public Health is working closely with local skilled nursing facilities to encourage adequate cleaning, infection control, and ventilation in the facility, as well as to communicate the importance of staff and visitors staying home when sick.

Public Health currently strongly recommends masking for staff in skilled nursing facilities and requires it during outbreaks. All residents should have access to clean well-fitting masks with good filtration and these should be worn by anyone suspected positive when not in their rooms. It is also strongly recommended that all residents, staff, and visitors remain up to date with COVID vaccines. Visitors should test before going into a skilled nursing facility and should strongly consider wearing a mask while inside.

Public Health provides support at all skilled nursing facilities during outbreaks and a Paxlovid prescription is encouraged, where appropriate, for residents who test positive.

With increased COVID-19 transmission in the community, schools are another place where outbreaks are possible due to large groups of people being indoors together for extended periods of time. And while many children may not experience severe illness associated with a COVID-19 infection, other family members and school staff may be at higher risk.

Parents and guardians are encouraged to keep children home if they are sick, including when they have a fever, bad cough, extreme fatigue, or a sore throat. Those with respiratory symptoms or a known exposure should test for COVID-19; many school districts have already received test kits for free distribution to students and their families. If a child tests positive for COVID-19, it is important to report that to the school as soon as possible so that others can be informed of the exposure. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 needs to isolate at home for a minimum of 5 days.

Public Health is committed to working with schools to provide support during outbreaks in addition to distributing free antigen tests and tool kits with resources and information about reducing transmission.

Those infected with COVID-19 should talk to their health care provider about treatment options, such as Paxlovid, as soon as possible. Treatment must begin within five days of the onset of symptoms. To access free telehealth services for treatment, contact the Public Health Call Center, seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., at 1-833-540-0473.

Los Angeles County remains in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Low Hospital Admission Level with 5.2 weekly COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people, reported on Aug. 21 for the seven-day period ending Aug. 12, an increase from 4.1 hospital admissions last week.

Public Health reports COVID-19 data weekly. The following table shows case, wastewater, emergency department, hospitalization, and death data in Los Angeles County over the past four weeks:

A wide range of data and dashboards on COVID-19 from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health are available on the Public Health website at http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov including:

COVID-19 Locations & Demographics (data by demographic characteristics and geography, active outbreaks, and citations)

 – COVID-19 Response Plan

 – COVID-19 Vaccinations

 – Skilled Nursing Facility Metrics

Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about novel coronavirus:

 – Los Angeles County Department of Public Health: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/

– California Department of Public Health: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/nCOV2019.aspx

– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

– CDC Spanishhttps://espanol.cdc.gov/enes/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

– World Health Organization https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

– LA County residents can also call 2-1-1

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

Since the State of Emergency has been lifted, the William S. Hart Union High School District will no longer be posting dashboard information.

Santa Clarita Valley Thursday Update

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard reported one additional death from COVID-19 in the city of Santa Clarita, bringing the total number of deaths in the SCV to 571.

NOTE: As of Dec. 20, 2022, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health switched to a new geocoding process to improve the accuracy and completeness of geocoded data. Geocoding is the process of assigning an address to specific geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude). As a result, approximately 1,500 cases (0.04%) were removed from the cumulative count as they were determined to be out of jurisdiction with the improved geocoding. The switch to this improved process also resulted in minor changes to cumulative case/death counts by Supervisor District, Service Planning Area, city/community, and area poverty categories.

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

Santa Clarita: 465

Castaic: 31 (revised from 33)

Acton: 19 (revised from 19)

Stevenson Ranch: 19

Unincorporated Canyon Country: 11

Agua Dulce: 8

Val Verde: 6

Elizabeth Lake: 4

Lake Hughes: 2

Valencia: 2

Unincorporated Bouquet Canyon: 2

Newhall: 1

Unincorporated Saugus/Canyon Country: 1

SCV Cases

Of the 100,751 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

Santa Clarita: 74,396

Castaic: 9,806

Stevenson Ranch: 6,078

Canyon Country: 3,815

Acton: 2,041

Val Verde: 1,233

Agua Dulce: 1,004

Valencia: 951

Saugus: 349 (revised from 352)

Elizabeth Lake: 291

Bouquet Canyon: 207

Lake Hughes: 207

Saugus/Canyon Country: 135

Newhall: 107

Sand Canyon: 63

San Francisquito: 44

Placerita Canyon: 24

*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 Thursday By the Numbers

There was no data as of deadline Aug. 24. Below is the most updated information from Aug. 18:

New hospital admissions updated Aug. 18, at 10:10 a.m., with data from Aug. 12.

Deaths and tests updated Aug. 18, at 10:10 a.m., with data from Aug. 15.

For more California data, click [here].