Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and L.A. County Public Health Department officials confirmed a total of 19 new cases of COVID-19 in the Santa Clarita Valley on Friday, bringing the valleywide total to 93 confirmed cases as the countywide total jumped by more than 500 cases for the fourth consecutive day.
The county also reported 11 more COVID-19 deaths on Friday, increasing the countywide death toll to 89.
Henry Mayo says a total of 13 people remain hospitalized due to COVID-19, the same number that was reported on Thursday, according to Patrick Moody, a spokesman for the hospital. The hospital itself has received a total of 43 confirmed tests from the 295 it has sent away for, while awaiting results on 52 others.
According to Los Angeles County Department of Public Health numbers, distributed on Friday afternoon, the total number of cases in the Santa Clarita Valley increased by 19 between Thursday and Friday.
In Los Angeles County, DPH has reported 521 new cases in that 24 hours, bringing the grand total countywide to 4,566, according to Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Ferrer said there were 11 deaths due to COVID-19 in the 24-hour period, bringing the total number of deaths to 89 countywide. The mortality rate for COVID-19 in the county is at 1.9%, with 78% of those over the age of 65.
Of the new confirmed cases in the county, seven people are confirmed cases of individuals experiencing homelessness. Two of the people reported Thursday as a part of this population were not in fact experiencing homelessness, Ferrer said.
Michael Foley, the director at Bridge to Home, said Friday that there had been no confirmed cases in Santa Clarita’s homeless population.
The DPH is reportedly investigating outbreaks at 67 institutional settings, which include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, shelters, treatment centers, supported living, jails and prisons. There are 321 confirmed cases among staff and residents at these institutions. In the institutional settings, there have been 11 deaths.
“All of the (institutional) settings where we’ve had deaths are either in skilled nursing homes or assisted living facilities,” said Ferrer.
In county correctional facilities, there are 25 cases,18 of which are staff and the other seven are incarcerated inmates.
Public Health released the total number of cases for the entire Santa Clarita Valley, which includes cases diagnosed by private health care providers, Friday 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 1:45 p.m.:
City of Santa Clarita: 78
Unincorporated – Castaic: 4
Unincorporated – Acton: “–”
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 0
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 5
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: 6
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.
