The new countywide numbers, presented once again by Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer during a daily press conference, brought the total number of cases in L.A. County to 7,955 and the total deaths to 223.
The total number of cases for the Santa Clarita Valley, according to Public Health figures released at approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday, showed a 10-case increase between Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the total to at least 163 confirmed COVID-19 cases across both the incorporated and unincorporated SCV regions.
“We have had one deceased patient,” said Patrick Moody, a spokesman for the hospital.
This is the first recorded COVID-19 death at the hospital since the first case was confirmed by the hospital on March 13. The death was recorded within the past 24 hours, according to officials.
Moody said that due to the hospital’s need to protect the deceased patient’s privacy, they could not immediately respond to questions regarding the patient’s age, residency or if they had underlying conditions.
Moody deferred those questions to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, citing established public health policy and procedure. As of the publication of this article, county officials had not yet made themselves available for comment.
The mortality rate countywide has reached 2.8%, Ferrer said during the news conference on Thursday, and the county has diagnosed 1,045 new cases in the last 48 hours. Of those patients who have tested positive, 1,894 have been hospitalized and 77% of the hospitalized are between the ages of 18-65.
Ferrer also announced that 20 members of the county’s homeless community have been diagnosed with the virus, and a staff member at one of the county’s homeless shelters has died due to complications from COVID-19.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has 27 positive cases among staff, and 447 quarantined, of whom 188 have returned to work, Ferrer said. The Los Angeles County Fire Department reported 14 positive cases among its staff. The Fire Department reported 26 are quarantined at home, two people are in isolation and at home symptomatic, and 12 who were previously quarantined have returned to work.
Ferrer said Thursday that 24% of positive cases are hospitalized at some point, and 20-35% of those patients also require intubation.
As of Thursday afternoon, 382 tests have been administered at Henry Mayo — 323 are negative and seven are pending, according to Moody.
A total of 60 cases have been diagnosed by the hospital as of Thursday, an increase of two confirmed cases since Wednesday. A total of 17 people are currently hospitalized at Henry Mayo, Moody said.
The number of cases for the Santa Clarita Valley, broken down into region, were as follows, according to Public Health’s numbers as of Tuesday afternoon:
City of Santa Clarita: 126
Unincorporated – Acton: 5
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: “–”
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 12
Unincorporated – Castaic: 7
Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 0
Unincorporated – Newhall: 0
Unincorporated – Placerita Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – Sand Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – Saugus: “–”
Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 0
Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 10
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, and once these locations have five or more cases then they will be included, according to Public Health spokesman Bernard Tolliver. Locations that have zero will say “0.”
To view all coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/category/news/coronavirus.
