Los Angeles County Public Health Department officials announced 925 additional coronavirus cases Thursday, bringing the total to 35,329 countywide, while the Santa Clarita Valley, which includes cases from the Pitchess Detention Center, has at least 893.
The SCV had 45 new cases in the last 24 hours, including 20 cases in Santa Clarita, 24 in Castaic, which may include some in the jail population, and one in Acton.
In addition, Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced 51 new deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the total to 1,709 in L.A. County.
“I’m sad to report that this is the first day that we’ve had to note that more than half of all the people who have died from COVID-19 in L.A. County were residing in institutional settings,” Ferrer said.
Of those who died in the last 24 hours, 35 were over the age of 65, while 32 of those had underlying health conditions, and 12 were between the ages of 41-65, eleven of whom had underlying health conditions. There are four additional cases with no further information as of the publication of this story.
Ferrer said that 92% of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions.
“I want to note that 40% of the people who have died are, in fact, 65 years of age or younger, which means that there are a lot of people with underlying health conditions in different age groups who are, in fact, at risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 and also lose their lives, unfortunately,” Ferrer added. “Now that many people will be out of their homes more as we’re on our recovery journey, this means that there’s a likelihood that more people can become infected, and that means that more people can infect other people. So, if you have an underlying health condition … please take a moment to try to make sure that you will be able to continue to stay at home as much as possible.”
There are 5,660 people who tested positive for COVID-19, or 16%, that have, at some point during their illness, needed to be hospitalized, while there are currently 1,742 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, which is a slight decrease this week, according to Ferrer.
More than 272,000 COVID-19 test results have been reported to Public Health, and 11% of those results were positive.
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital announced Wednesday an additional death related to COVID-19, bringing the total in the SCV to eight, with seven deaths at the hospital and one additional death not at the hospital. Information on any of the deceased, including age, residency and past medical history, was not provided by the hospital due to patient privacy policy.
In the hospital’s weekly update also provided Wednesday, the total number of tests administered stands at 1,106 tests, with 182 positive, 1,007 negative and 28 tests still pending, according to Henry Mayo spokesman Patrick Moody. As of Wednesday, 12 people were in the hospital and 62 had recovered and been discharged, Moody added.
Public Health reported Wednesday that the number of cases within the SCV, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 893. Broken down by region, the local cases are as follows as of Thursday afternoon:
City of Santa Clarita: 549
Unincorporated – Acton: 9
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 3
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 30
Unincorporated – Castaic: 253 (includes 225 cases from Pitchess Detention Center)
Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 0
Unincorporated – Newhall: 0
Unincorporated – Placerita Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – San Francisquito Canyon/Bouquet Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – Sand Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – Saugus: 4
Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 0
Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 27
Unincorporated – Val Verde: 12
Unincorporated – Valencia: 6
Pitchess Detention Center, including all four of its jails, had a total of 225 inmates who had been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive and have been included in Castaic’s numbers, while the 18 staff reported positive are reported to the region in which they reside, according to the latest numbers provided by Public Health Thursday. This is an increase in 38 inmate cases since numbers were last reported Sunday.
To view all coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/category/news/coronavirus.
