Los Angeles County Public Health on Friday confirmed 53 new deaths and 3,116 new cases of COVID-19 countywide, as Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital reported its 21st COVID-related fatality.
Public Health has confirmed 4,650 cases to date in the Santa Clarita Valley, including 2,376 cases in the city of Santa Clarita.
Public Health anticipates a continued reporting of a backlog of cases as the state electronic laboratory system (ELR) reporting delay is addressed. Data sources that track other key indicators, including hospitalizations and deaths, are not affected by this reporting issue.
Countywide, 1,680 people are now hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19, 30% of them in the ICU.
The county is now seeing a downward trend in the number of daily hospitalizations. Last week, Public Health reported more than 2,000 daily hospitalizations.
Test results are available for more than 1,893,000 county residents, with 10% of all people testing positive.
Since the pandemic began, Public Health has identified 204,167 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of the county, and a total of 4,918 deaths. There have been 49 COVID-19 deaths in the SCV, including 37 in the city.
“So many families are experiencing the pain and sadness of losing a loved one to COVID-19. We extend our deepest sympathies to all of you,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.
As of August 6, local health departments have reported 25,679 confirmed positive cases in health care workers and 131 deaths statewide.
Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed.
Due to issues with the state’s electronic laboratory reporting system, these data represent an underreporting of actual positive cases in one single day.
More than 4,918,927 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, while the number of people in the U.S. who have died due to the virus has surpassed 160,737.
The United States has the highest case and death rate in the world. Brazil, at #2, had confirmed 2.9 million cases and 98,493 deaths as of Friday afternoon.
Of the 4,650 cases reported to Public Health for the SCV to date, the community breakdown is as follows:
*Note: The county is unable to break out separate numbers for Castaic and PDC/NCCF because the county uses geotagging software that cannot be changed at this time, according to officials. Click here for the LASD COVID-19 dashboard.
The hospital is now releasing statistics on a weekly basis (Wednesdays) unless there is a drastic change in the number of cases or a COVID-related death has been confirmed.
As of Friday, of the 5,697 people tested at Henry Mayo to date, 700 tested positive, 6,356 were negative, 106 were pending, 9 patients were hospitalized in a dedicated unit receiving ICU-level care (down 4 from August 1), and a total of 206 COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far, as fatalities at the hospital now number 21, Moody confirmed.
Discrepancies in the testing numbers are due to some patients being tested multiple times. “Often a single patient is tested more than once,” he said.
Thirty-nine people had underlying health conditions including 17 people over 80 years old, 13 people between 65 and 79 years old, seven people between 50 and 64 years old, and two people between 30 and 49 years old.
Countywide, 92% of people who died had underlying health conditions.
Upon further investigation, 55 cases and four deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.
Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 4,610 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 49% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 24% among White residents, 15% among Asian residents, 10% among African American/Black residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.
“However, we need to see lower rates and our future success depends on commitments we each make every day about doing our part, working together and sustaining efforts that get us to the other side of this pandemic,” she said.
“Our collective goals of slowing the spread of this virus and reopening and keeping open vital community and economic sectors means we must put off the parties, gatherings, and trips to crowded places in order to get to low community transmission rates so we can re-open our schools and get more people back to work,” she said.
L.A. County Public Health’s Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.
Here’s the L.A. County incident report for Friday, August 7, 2020:
See the complete list of counties here.
More than 85 community testing sites offer free, confidential testing: Find a COVID-19 Testing Site.
The CDPH released updated testing guidance on July 23 that focuses on testing hospitalized individuals with signs or symptoms of COVID-19 and people being tested as part of the investigation and management of outbreaks, including contact tracing.
The testing guidance also prioritizes individuals who have COVID-19 symptoms and individuals without symptoms who fall into high-risk categories, including people who live and work in nursing homes, homeless shelters and prisons, healthcare workers, and patients in hospitals.
The new guidance will ensure that Californians who most need tests get them even if there are limited supplies.
The proportion of COVID-19 deaths in African Americans is more than one-and-a-half times their population representation across all adult age categories. For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, overall numbers are low, but almost double between the proportion of COVID-19 deaths and their population representation.
More males are dying from COVID-19 than females, in line with national trends.
More information is available at COVID-19 Race and Ethnicity Data.
As of August 4, there have been 29 cases of MIS-C have been reported statewide.
To protect patient confidentiality in counties with fewer than 11 cases, we are not providing total counts at this time.
MIS-C is a rare inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that can damage multiple organ systems. MIS-C can require hospitalization and be life-threatening.
Parents should be aware of the signs and symptoms of MIS-C including fever that does not go away, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes or feeling tired.
Contact your child’s doctor immediately if your child has these symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment of patients are critical to preventing long-term complications.
* Staying home except for essential needs/activities following local and state public health guidelines when patronizing approved businesses. To the extent that sectors are re-opened, Californians may leave their homes to work at, patronize, or otherwise engage with those businesses, establishments or activities.
* Practicing social distancing
* Wearing a cloth face mask when out in public
* Washing hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds
* Avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands
* Covering a cough or sneeze with your sleeve, or disposable tissue. Wash your hands afterward
* Avoiding close contact with people who are sick
* Staying away from work, school or other people if you become sick with respiratory symptoms like fever and cough
* Following guidance from public health officials
It’s important if someone thinks they could be positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting testing results to stay at home and act as if they are positive. This means self-isolating for 10 days and 72 hours after symptoms and fever subside.
If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they should plan on receiving a call from a public health specialist to discuss how to protect themselves and others, to find out where they may have been, and who they were in close contact with while infectious.
* The Statewide COVID-19 Dashboard
* The California COVID-19 Assessment Tool (CalCAT)
* State Cases and Deaths Associated with COVID-19 by Age Group
* COVID-19 Race & Ethnicity Data
* COVID-19 Hospital Data and Case Statistics
* View additional datasets at the California Open Data Portal (including Testing Data, PPE Logistics Data, Hospital Data, Homeless Impact and more)
Consolidated guidance is available on the California Department of Public Health’s Guidance webpage.
Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about novel coronavirus (COVID-19):
* Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
* California Department of Public Health
* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
* Spanish
* World Health Organization
* Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard
L.A. County residents can also call 2-1-1.
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