Public Health officials confirmed 42 new deaths due to COVID-19, marking the second day in a row the county has seen its largest single-day death toll for the virus, as the tally for cases in the Santa Clarita Valley reached at least 205.
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital officials for the first time announced they have discharged 13 COVID-19 patients, a number that has not been readily available until now.
Since the start of the outbreak, Henry Mayo has reported its own COVID-19 numbers, and a total of 463 tests have been administered, while 94 have returned positive, 369 were negative and six remained pending results as of Wednesday afternoon, according to spokesman Patrick Moody.
Currently, 31 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized at Henry Mayo, while no new deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported at the hospital, keeping the total deceased at two, Moody added on Wednesday.
In Los Angeles County, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has reached a total of 10,496 countywide with 402 total deaths, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
“This will now be the highest number of deaths we’ve reported … for any single day,” said Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer.
Twenty-four of the deceased were over the age of 65 and 13 of those had underlying health conditions, while 11 people who died were between the ages of 41-65, and seven of them had underlying health conditions, according to Ferrer.
“There was one person who died who was between the ages of 18 and 40, and this person also had underlying health conditions,” Ferrer said. “This is a reminder that while mortality rates are higher for people who are older and people who have underlying health conditions, people of all ages can in fact pass away from COVID-19.”
Over the last 48 hours, 1,142 new cases have been reported countywide, per Public Health.
While the “Safer at Home” health order was extended Friday until May 15, Ferrer said Public Health officials are working toward understanding what the future will look like.
“We will continue to need physical distancing requirements and directives in many months to come, but what we’re going to be working on as part of our recovery is figuring out how we can in fact get more people back to work,” she said. “We have to be able to continue our containment measures and even strengthen them so that we’re, in fact, identifying new sources of infection, immediately isolating people who are infected and ensuring that their close contacts are quarantined so that we avoid the spread of COVID-19 in our communities.”
This will include things like limiting the number of people in a retail store at one time or taking temperatures before entering stores.
“And you will see infection control practices like hand washing, wearing cloth face coverings and physical distancing required at all of our public places and spaces, so that we can do our part to maintain and slow the spread at some locations,” Ferrer said.
“I know it takes a lot of time, and there isn’t a single person in our county whose life hasn’t changed because of COVID-19 — the sacrifices you’ve all made really can’t easily be counted,” Ferrer added. “All of us have had to live our day-to-day lives very differently than we’re used to, but I asked you to please continue to do your part, stay connected with your community from afar, be kind to yourself, and show compassion for one another. I know we’re going to get to the other side of this together.”
The number of cases for the Santa Clarita Valley, broken down into region, were as follows, according to Public Health’s numbers as of Wednesday afternoon:
- City of Santa Clarita: 166
- Unincorporated – Acton: “–”
- Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: “–”
- Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: “–”
- Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 14
- Unincorporated – Castaic: 9
- Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 0
- Unincorporated – Newhall: 0
- Unincorporated – Placerita Canyon: 0
- Unincorporated – San Francisquito Canyon/Bouquet Canyon: 0
- Unincorporated – Sand Canyon: 0
- Unincorporated – Saugus: “–”
- Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 0
- Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 11
- Unincorporated – Val Verde: 0
- Unincorporated – Valencia: “–”
Anywhere there is a “ – ” means they could have between one and four cases, which is done to protect patient privacy, according to Public Health spokesman Bernard Tolliver. Once these locations have five or more cases, then they will be included in the count, while locations that have zero will say “0,” per Public Health officials.
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