The number of COVID-19 cases within the Santa Clarita Valley, which includes an outbreak at Pitchess Detention Center, jumped by 89 in the past day, bringing the SCV total number of cases to at least 1,544.
However, this one-day spike in cases is largely attributed to cases reported to Castaic, which saw an increase of 70 in the past 24 hours. The numbers reported for Castaic also include some of the confirmed inmate cases at Pitchess Detention Center, which has been experiencing an outbreak for a number of weeks.
Pitchess Detention Center, including all four of its jails, had a total of 919 inmates who had been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive and are expected to later be included in Castaic’s numbers, while the 67 staff who tested positive are reported to the region in which they reside, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s latest figures.
The figures released by Public Health, however, do not add up correctly for Pitchess and Castaic. Public Health officials have said the number of cases reported in Castaic can fluctuate due to the numbers reported for Pitchess Detention Center being out of alignment with the Public Health counts. County officials were unavailable for comment on Sunday to discuss the current discrepancy.
In Sunday’s report, cases increased in the city of Santa Clarita by 15, while two new COVID-19 cases were reported in Valencia and one each in Canyon Country and Val Verde.
L.A. County reported an additional 1,379 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 54,996 countywide.
In addition, 25 new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in the past 24 hours, with the total number of deaths at 2,362 in L.A. County, per Public Health.
Of those who died: 15 were over the age of 65, 14 of whom had underlying conditions; eight were between the ages of 41-65, seven of whom had underlying conditions; and one person was between the ages of 18-40 and had underlying health conditions. The remaining deaths were reported by the cities of Pasadena and Long Beach; each has its own public health department.
On Wednesday, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital officials reported 1,555 patients had been tested, with 208 of those returning positive, 1,289 negative and 42 were still pending, according to hospital spokesman Patrick Moody, who added that the disparity in figures is from patients being tested more than once. A total of nine people remained in the hospital for treatment, and 73 had recovered and been discharged.
Public Health reported Sunday the number of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 1,544, but the total will need to be adjusted once the Pitchess numbers are correctly tallied. Currently, broken down by region, Public Health is reporting the numbers as follows:Â
City of Santa Clarita: 769
Unincorporated – Acton: 11
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 9
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 1
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 39
Unincorporated – Castaic: 642 (includes some cases from Pitchess Detention Center, exact number unavailable)
Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 1
Unincorporated – Newhall: 1
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: 34
Unincorporated – Val Verde: 24
Unincorporated – Valencia: 9
To view all coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/category/news/coronavirus.
