Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials announced 17 new deaths due to coronavirus and an additional 1,491 positive cases, while the total number of confirmed cases in the Santa Clarita Valley rose to at least 272.
However, the county’s new cases do not represent a one-day spike, as Public Health officials received a backlog of test results from April 7-14 from one lab over the weekend, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
“This does not represent the number of new cases in a single day, (as) 1,198 of these positive cases are from the backlog and the additional 293 are from our daily reported cases,” Ferrer said. “This is a tremendous lag in data reporting to the Department of Public Health, and we’re working hard to make sure that we don’t have backlogs moving forward.”
Countywide, the total number of cases rose to 13,816 with 617 deaths in the county, per Public Health.
“Eighty-nine percent of the people who have died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions, and this reminds us that we need to do everything possible so that it’s possible for those people with underlying health conditions to stay safe at home,” Ferrer said.
Saturday marked the highest single-day total of deaths countywide since the start of the outbreak as Public Health officials confirmed an additional 81 deaths due to COVID-19 in L.A. County.
In total, the weekend saw four additional positive results for coronavirus from Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and 10 additional confirmed cases from the county, bringing the total cases in the SCV closer to 250.
Henry Mayo has administered 518 tests, and of those 108 have been positive, while 413 were negative and three remain pending as of Monday afternoon, according to spokesman Patrick Moody.
While 32 COVID-19 patients are currently in the hospital as of Monday, a total of 21 have recovered and been discharged, Moody added.
No additional deaths have been reported by the hospital since Friday, keeping the hospital’s total at three deceased.
The number of cases for the Santa Clarita Valley, broken down into region, were as follows, according to Public Health’s numbers as of Monday afternoon:
- City of Santa Clarita: 221
- Unincorporated – Acton: 6
- Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: “–”
- Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 0
- Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 16
- Unincorporated – Castaic: 11
- 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: 14
- Unincorporated – Val Verde: “–”
- 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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