The Santa Clarita Valley saw a 152-case jump on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in the SCV to 1,455.
However, for the second day in a row, this spike can be attributed to the large number of cases being reported to Castaic, which saw a 130-case spike in the last day. The numbers reported for Castaic also included the number of confirmed inmate cases at Pitchess Detention Center, which has been experiencing an outbreak for a number of weeks.
Countywide, Public Health officials announced the largest one-day spike in COVID-19 diagnoses, one day after announcing a state variance to reopen L.A. County.
The high number of cases is, in part, due to a backlog of test results being processed and also a new lab beginning to report results in a timely manner through the county’s Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) system.
There were also 48 deaths reported. Of those: Thirty-six people who died were over the age of 65; and eight people who died were between the ages of 41 and 65. Thirty-three people had underlying health conditions, including 26 people over the age of 65, and seven people between the ages of 41 to 65.
Public Health has identified 53,651 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 2,338 deaths, since the beginning of the outbreak.
As of today, 6,486 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (13% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,415 people who are currently hospitalized, 28% of these people are in the ICU and 19% are on ventilators. Testing capacity continues to increase in L.A. County, with testing results available for over 580,000 individuals and 8% of people testing positive.
Los Angeles County received approval by the state for its variance Friday, according to county officials.
This variance allows the county to move through Stage 2 of the state’s 4-stage Pandemic Roadmap at an accelerated rate as determined by the local health officer. Public Health has amended the current health officer order, Safer at Work and in the Community, to allow in-person dining at restaurants and hair salons to reopen once the establishments are able to implement the required distancing and infection control directives.
The directives are contained in sector-specific protocols that guide reopening and are available online. Inspectors will continue to offer technical assistance as they monitor businesses for compliance with the Health Officer Order. Higher-risk businesses remain closed.
Henry Mayo Newhall hospital officials, who are now providing weekly updates to their counts, said on Wednesday that 1,555 patients had been tested. Of those, 208 returned positive, while 1,289 were 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.
The hospital declined to give any identifying information about two patients reported deceased this week, citing patient privacy policy. The numbers from Wednesday are the most recently made available.
Public Health reported Saturday the number of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 1,455, which, broken down by region, is as follows:
City of Santa Clarita: 754
Unincorporated – Acton: 11
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 9
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 1
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 38
Unincorporated – Castaic: 572 (Pitchess Detention Center as of the Saturday reporting numbers had 777 confirmed crimes)
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: 23
Unincorporated – Valencia: 7
Pitchess Detention Center, including all four of its jails, had a total of 777 inmates who had been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive and have been included in Castaic’s numbers, while the 66 staff who tested positive are reported to the region in which they reside, according to Public Health’s latest figures.
