Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital officials confirmed Thursday an additional eight positive diagnoses for the novel coronavirus, bringing the total local count to at least 74, as the countywide tally reached 4,045.
The hospital’s eight new confirmed cases, combined with eight additional cases reported by the county from other sources, brought the Santa Clarita Valley’s total of new cases to 16 — the biggest one-day increase to date.
The hospital has received a total of 41 positive test results for COVID-19 as of Thursday afternoon, according to spokesman Patrick Moody.
Henry Mayo has administered 257 tests, which was 16 more conducted since Wednesday. Of that total, 199 have tested negative and 23 were still pending. The disparity in the figures “don’t add up exactly because some patients are tested more than once,” said Moody.
The hospital has treated 13 patients as of Thursday, he said, adding that Henry Mayo currently does not have information on the number of recovered patients.
In Los Angeles County, the Department of Public Health reported 534 new cases, which increased the total number of COVID-19 cases to 4,045 countywide. Of that tally, nine people are confirmed cases of individuals who are experiencing homelessness.
“That means that over the last 48 hours we’ve had over 1,000 new cases here in L.A. County,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health.
In institutional settings, such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities and supportive living jails and prisons, the total number of confirmed diagnoses has reached 298, and 114 are among staff, said Ferrer, adding that of that total 11 people have died from COVID-19.
Countywide, the death toll is 78 as of Thursday afternoon, with a rate of 1.9%, after 13 new deaths were reported.
After recent directives for Americans to wear masks when going outside, Ferrer reiterated that only health care workers should use N95 masks as “we have a short supply and we must have them for our health care workers so that they can be protected when they protect us when we need medical care.” Everyone else is advised to find other alternatives, such as searching online to “see how to make your own mask. They’re very simple to make. There’s nothing fancy about them,” she added.
Public Health released the total number of cases for the entire Santa Clarita Valley, which includes cases diagnosed by private health care providers, Thursday afternoon.
The number of cases for the Santa Clarita Valley, broken down into region, were as follows, according to the Department of Public Health numbers released at approximately 1:52 p.m. on Thursday:
- City of Santa Clarita: 65
- Unincorporated – Castaic: 4
- Unincorporated – Acton: 0
- Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 0
- Unincorporated – Canyon Country: “–”
- Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 0
- Unincorporated – Newhall: 0
- Unincorporated – Placerita Canyon: 0
- Unincorporated – Sand Canyon: 0
- Unincorporated – Saugus: 0
- Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 0
- Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 5
- Unincorporated – Val Verde: 0
- Unincorporated – Valencia: “–”
Anywhere there is a “ – ” means they could have between one and four cases, according to county DPH officials.
“This is done to protect patient privacy,” Bernard Tolliver, a Public Health spokesman, said in a previous Signal interview. “Once these locations have five or greater cases then that will be included. Locations that have zero will say ‘zero.’”
For all local coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/2020/03/covid-19-coverage-summary.
