Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials announced 978 additional cases of COVID-19 Monday, bringing the total to 55,968 countywide.
In addition, 22 new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in the past 24 hours, with the total number of deaths at 2,384 in L.A. County, per Public Health.
Of those who died: 16 were over the age of 65, 15 of whom had underlying conditions; and six were between the ages of 41-65, all of whom had underlying conditions.
“Ninety-four percent of the people who have died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions, and this number has stayed constant throughout the epidemic, so it continues to be so important for people with underlying health conditions to stay home as much as possible,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health.
For the first time, Ferrer provided information about COVID-19 cases among pregnant women, and countywide, 228 women who are pregnant have tested positive for COVID-19, and 79% of the women who were tested and were positive were symptomatic.
“I am very sad to report the death of a woman from COVID-19 who was pregnant, as well as the death of the baby she was carrying,” Ferrer added. “This woman did have significant underlying health conditions.”
To date, there have been 52 live births and four non-live births among women who tested positive for COVID-19, and of the 40 infants who have been tested for COVID-19 at birth, all have been negative, Ferrer said.
“Every day we’ve continued to see slight decreases in the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19,” Ferrer said, adding that hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are down to 12% of all positive cases, and 6,528 of those who have tested positive have been hospitalized at some point during their illness.
Currently, there are 1,357 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are hospitalized, 28% of whom are in the ICU and 18% of whom are on ventilators, Ferrer added.
Over the weekend, the number of COVID-19 cases within the Santa Clarita Valley, which includes an outbreak at Pitchess Detention Center, jumped by 241 with 55 additional cases reported Monday, bringing the SCV total number of cases to at least 1,599.
However, this jump in cases is largely attributed to cases reported to Castaic, which saw a 200-case spike over the weekend and 51 additional cases Monday. The numbers reported for Castaic also include many 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 951 inmates who had been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive and are expected to later be included in Castaic’s numbers, while the 69 staff who tested positive are reported to the region in which they reside, according to Public Health’s latest figures released Monday.
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, though they were unavailable to discuss the current discrepancy as of the publication of this story.
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 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 Monday the number of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 1,599, 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:
City of Santa Clarita: 772
Unincorporated – Acton: 11
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 9
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 1
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 39
Unincorporated – Castaic: 693 (majority of Castaic cases come 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: 25
Unincorporated – Valencia: 9
To view all coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/category/news/coronavirus.
