SCV COVID-19 cases reach nearly 1,700

The number of coronavirus cases within the Santa Clarita Valley, which includes an outbreak at Pitchess Detention Center, continued to rise Tuesday, with 79 new cases reported in the local area by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in the past 24 hours.

This brings the total number of cases in the SCV to at least 1,678. However, a majority of those cases can be attributed to the Pitchess Detention Center, which reportedly has a total of 951 inmates in all four of its jails that have tested positive for COVID-19 and are expected to later be included in Castaic’s numbers.

While Public Health officials have said that the numbers reported for Castaic include the confirmed inmate cases at Pitchess Detention Center, which has been experiencing an outbreak for a number of weeks, the figures released by Public Health still 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.

The discrepancy may be magnified now that Pitchess Detention Center is in the midst of undergoing mass testing, Public Health officials added.

Countywide, Public Health officials announced 1,202 additional cases of COVID-19 and 60 new deaths Tuesday, bringing the total to 57,118 and 2,443, respectively.

On May 27, 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 Tuesday the number of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 1,678, 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: 785

▪ Unincorporated — Acton: 11

▪ Unincorporated — Agua Dulce: 9

▪ Unincorporated — Bouquet Canyon: 1

▪ Unincorporated — Canyon Country: 40

▪ Unincorporated — Castaic: 755 (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: 35

▪ Unincorporated — Val Verde: 27

▪ Unincorporated — Valencia: 9