The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Thursday 220 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 once a week. This is the most recent data from Sept. 14.

This new data brings Los Angeles County death totals to 36,674, case totals to 3,795,866 and Santa Clarita Valley case totals to 101,403 since March of 2020. SCV deaths from COVID-19 rise to 572.

Access to Updated Vaccines

Los Angeles County residents will soon have access to updated vaccines designed to target COVID-19 strains currently circulating. The updated vaccine is strongly recommended this fall for residents ages 6 months and older.

With nearly 22 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Los Angeles County over the past three years, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has seen first-hand how the vaccine provides residents with a safe, effective and easy way to protect against severe illness from the virus. Data also shows that vaccines can lessen the risk of getting long COVID and other post-COVID conditions.

Staying up to date on vaccines is especially important heading into fall and winter, as indicators of COVID-19 transmission, including more outbreaks in schools, work sites and skilled nursing facilities, have increased in Los Angeles County over the past few weeks.

Updated vaccines will restore waning protection against the COVID-19 virus and enhance protection against new variants of the virus, even if a person had earlier versions of the vaccine, had COVID-19 in the past or are in good health and don’t get sick often. Everyone over the age of 6 months is encouraged to get at least one dose of the updated vaccine. The updated vaccine targets the Omicron variant XBB.1.5; more than 95 percent of COVID-19 strains currently circulating in Los Angeles County are descendants of the XBB strain.

For children under 5 years old who have never been vaccinated against COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends two Moderna doses or three Pfizer doses of the newly updated vaccine. People with weakened immune systems should work with their provider to determine the number of doses and vaccine schedule that is best for them.

Pregnant people can prepare to protect their newborns and infants under 6 months old, who are not yet eligible to receive their own COVID-19 vaccines, by getting vaccinated against the virus. Pregnant people pass along antibodies to their babies before birth so that they have protection against severe illness due to COVID-19 in their first few months of life. Nationally, infants have the 2nd highest rate of hospitalization from COVID after individuals over the age of 75.

The COVID-19 vaccine can be given at the same time as the flu and other vaccines. People over 60 years old should speak to their health care providers about also getting the RSV vaccine, which protects against the respiratory syncytial virus. Older adults are at higher risk of getting very sick from any respiratory illness.

The updated COVID-19 vaccines will likely be widely available in Los Angeles County by the middle of next week, with some retail sites having doses as early as this weekend. Pharmacies and health care providers will receive orders directly from the manufacturers and provide information to their patients and customers about availability. Health insurance plans are expected to cover the full cost.

Any resident who is seeking vaccination will be able to do so regardless of insurance or immigration status.

Free vaccines will be available to uninsured and underinsured children and adults at many participating retail pharmacies, health care providers and health centers through a federal program called the CDC Bridge Access Program. Public Health is finalizing distribution plans for its public health clinics and mobile teams pending arrival of the vaccines. The department will focus on making sure the county’s most vulnerable populations, including elderly and disabled people, have easy access to the new vaccines.

For children who are uninsured or have Medi-CAL, they can receive the newly updated COVID vaccine for free through the Vaccine for Children program. A list of these providers can also be found at bit.ly/VaccineForChildrenSites.

To find vaccine locations, visit ph.lacounty.gov/vaccines. Anyone who has questions, needs assistance with appointments, or are homebound and need to be vaccinated should contact the Public Health Call Center, which is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The number is 1-833-540-0473.

In Los Angeles County, while measures are relatively low compared to other points during the pandemic, there have been increased numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks. Over the past four weeks, the average daily number of COVID related hospitalizations has increased by over 40 percent, from 430 to 612. This week we are reporting an average of 4 deaths per day, three times higher than what was reported the week before.

Los Angeles County remains in the CDC Low Hospital Admission Level with 7.2 weekly COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people, reported on Sept. 11 for the seven-day period ending Sept. 3, a small change from 7.4 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 Update

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, the L.A. County Public Health dashboard reported one additional death from COVID-19 in the city of Santa, bringing the total number of deaths in the SCV to 572.

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: 466

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 101,403 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:

Santa Clarita: 74,847

Castaic: 9,881

Stevenson Ranch: 6,125

Canyon Country (unincorporated portion): 3,838

Acton: 2,055

Val Verde: 1,238

Agua Dulce: 1,012

Valencia (unincorporated portion west of I-5): 958

Saugus (unincorporated portion):  353

Elizabeth Lake: 292

Bouquet Canyon: 210

Lake Hughes: 207

Saugus/Canyon Country: 149

Newhall (Unincorporated portion): 107

Sand Canyon: 63

San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon: 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 By the Numbers

The most updated data as of Sept. 8:

New hospital admissions updated Sept. 8, at 9:36 a.m., with data from Sept. 2.

Deaths and tests updated Sept. 8, at 9:36 a.m., with data from Sept. 6.

For more California data, click [here].