The Santa Clarita Valley’s death toll related to COVID-19 climbed to 26 following an additional death reported Monday by Los Angeles County Public Health officials.
The Department of Public Health also released reports of 1,071 new, confirmed COVID-19 cases and 19 new deaths related to the virus countywide, which brought those totals to 73,791 and 2,926, respectively.
There are currently 1,285 people who have been diagnosed and hospitalized; and 31% of those patients are in the ICU and 24% are on ventilators, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
“The number of people in the hospital, each day, on average, continues to decline slightly,” she said Monday during a county broadcast.
She also reminded viewers that 93% of people who have died from the virus had underlying health conditions, a figure that has remained consistent throughout the pandemic.
“So as a reminder, older adults and people with underlying health conditions are at greater risk for serious illness and death, and these folks should stay home with our support as much as possible,” said Ferrer.
The director also shared that as the county continues contact tracing, residents should know that a contact tracer will never ask for money or one’s social security number or documented status.
“If you talk to somebody that they’re doing contact tracing and they ask for any of this information, please note that this is a scam. There is no one from the Public Health Department that will ever ask you for this,” she said.
Santa Clarita Valley numbers
Two new cases were reported for the Santa Clarita Valley for a total of 2,759. Over the weekend, Public Health reported 33 additional COVID-19 cases in the valley.
Tallies for the SCV include the numbers for an outbreak at Pitchess Detention Facility, which is reported under the totals for Castaic. However, due to reporting delays, these numbers are not yet aligned, according to Public Health officials. This makes it unclear how many of the daily reported Castaic cases are Pitchess inmates or Castaic residents.
As of Thursday, the most recent day for which an accurate breakdown was available, more than 60% of all SCV cases were attributed to the Pitchess Detention Center.
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital officials released their latest figures June 9, reporting a total of 2,045 patients had been tested — many of whom have been tested more than once — with 234 tests returning positive, 2,013 negative and 60 still pending, according to spokesman Patrick Moody. Three people remained in the hospital and 91 have recovered and been discharged.
A total of 26 people in the SCV have died due to complications with COVID-19, after the addition of one new death as of Monday.
The number of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 2,759, which, broken down by region, is as follows:
City of Santa Clarita: 894
Unincorporated – Acton: 19
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 9
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 1
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 39
Unincorporated – Castaic: 1,715 (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: 5
Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 0
Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 40
Unincorporated – Val Verde: 23
Unincorporated – Valencia: 12
To view all coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/category/news/coronavirus.