Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials announced Tuesday 4,244 additional COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours — the highest one-day spike since the start of the outbreak — bringing the total in L.A. County to 140,307.
In addition, Public Health reported 73 new deaths countywide, while one additional death was reported in the Santa Clarita Valley. This brings the total deaths related to COVID-19 to 3,894 and 39, respectively.
“This is one of the highest number of new deaths reported in a day and may reflect a lag in the reporting of deaths over the weekend,” Public Health officials said in a prepared statement.
Of those who died: 51 were over the age of 65, 41 of whom had underlying health conditions; 19 were between the ages of 41-65, 12 of whom had underlying health conditions; and one was between the ages of 18-40 and had underlying health conditions. The two remaining deaths were reported by the city of Long Beach, which has its own public health department.
On Tuesday, there were 2,103 people hospitalized in L.A. County — the highest number of cases reported in a day and a figure that remains substantially higher than the 1,350 to 1,450 daily hospitalizations seen a month ago — with 27% in the ICU and 19% on ventilators.
Testing results are available for more than 1.3 million individuals, with 9% of all people testing positive, per Public Health.
“As a community, we must slow the spread of COVID-19 to prevent an overwhelming surge of COVID-19 in our hospitals and more untimely deaths,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in the statement. “I urge you to wear a face covering, stay at home as much as possible, avoid close contact with people you don’t live with and wash your hands. Together, we can stop the spread of this deadly virus. Today’s numbers are alarming and unfortunately are the result of many businesses and individuals not adhering to the basic public health requirements of distancing and wearing face coverings. We are just not able to continue on a recovery journey without everyone doing their part. Keeping businesses open is only possible if we get back to slowing the spread. ”
On Monday, as COVID-19 cases continued to surge statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California would be rolling back some reopenings, with L.A. County soon followed by revising its own health officer order, shutting down fitness centers, places of worship, hair salons and dine-in services at restaurants immediately.
In the SCV, 41 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, with 35 in the city of Santa Clarita, two in Canyon Country and one each in Castaic, Sand Canyon, Saugus and Valencia.
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital released its weekly tallies Monday, which showed that around 400 tests have been conducted since Wednesday, totalling 4,316 since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 454 returned positive and 4,010 negative, while 484 remain pending, according to spokesman Patrick Moody. A total of 137 people have recovered and 15 remained at the hospital — an increase of four since Wednesday.
The number of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and those at Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 3,708 on Tuesday, broken down into region, are as follows:
City of Santa Clarita: 1,622
Unincorporated – Acton: 34
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 15
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 1
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 57
Unincorporated – Castaic: 1,822 (majority of Castaic cases come from Pitchess Detention Center, exact number unavailable)
Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 1
Unincorporated – Newhall: 3
Unincorporated – Placerita Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – San Francisquito Canyon/Bouquet Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – Sand Canyon: 2
Unincorporated – Saugus: 11
Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 0
Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 82
Unincorporated – Val Verde: 34
Unincorporated – Valencia: 24
To view all coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/category/news/coronavirus.
