Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital officials said Wednesday five new patients tested positive for COVID-19, which increased the total number of cases in the Santa Clarita Valley to at least 58, as the countywide tally surpassed 3,500.
The hospital has received 33 positive test results for the novel coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak, according to spokesman Patrick Moody.
Henry Mayo has conducted 241 tests, about 16 more conducted since Tuesday. Of that total, 184 have tested negative and 29 remain outstanding. There are currently nine patients in the hospital, he added.
Henry Mayo currently does not have information on the number of recovered patients, said Moody.
Across Los Angeles County, Department of Public Health officials announced Wednesday an additional 513 cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of positive diagnoses to 3,518 countywide. Over the last 48 hours, the county reported 1,061 new cases.
“So, this disease does cause, in fact, serious illness, amongst people of all ages,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health. She added that individuals should try to remember who they were in close contact with 48 hours before he or she started feeling sick.
“Now we have to remember, ‘Who was I with for two days before I started feeling sick and I’ve got to contact all of those people, if I was in close contact with them and let them know that they need to quarantine themselves for a period of up to 14 days,’” said Ferrer.
There were also 11 new deaths countywide within the last 24 hours, said Ferrer. Nine of those patients were over the age of 65 and had underlying health conditions. The other two deaths occurred in people who were between the ages of 18 and 40 and between 41 and 65. The death toll across the county reached 65 as of Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, the city of Santa Clarita confirmed a Santa Clarita Transit driver had died after testing positive with the virus, and two others had also tested positive.
The Department of Health did not immediately respond Wednesday on whether it would release information on the number of recovered COVID-19 patients.
Public Health did release the total number of cases for the entire Santa Clarita Valley, which includes cases diagnosed by private health care providers, Wednesday 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 1:40 p.m. on Wednesday:
- City of Santa Clarita: 50
- Unincorporated – Castaic: 3
- 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: “–”
- 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.
