County reports fewer than 1,000 cases

For the first time since June 8, Los Angeles County Public Health Department officials announced fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 cases, with just 989 reported Tuesday, bringing the overall total to 233,777.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, 33 COVID-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, of which 31 came from the city of Santa Clarita, along with one each in Castaic and Stevenson Ranch.

Public Health also reported 51 new deaths related to the virus countywide, bringing the death toll to 5,605 since the start of the pandemic.

L.A. County has continuously met five out of six of the criteria for the state’s watch list, only missing the mark on the threshold

of having less than 100 cases per 100,000 residents.

As of Tuesday, that rate has dropped to 196 cases per 100,000 residents, which Public Health officials consider a step in the right direction.

“Last week, we mentioned that we were showing progress on meeting the state’s benchmarks for getting off the watch list, and we are grateful for everyone’s sacrifices that have resulted in slowing the spread,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a prepared statement.

“Because of the lessons we learned from our explosion of cases in July, I need to ask that we continue to significantly modify our actions if we want to keep community transmission rates low.”

There were 1,200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 hospitalized countywide as of Monday, 32% of whom were in the ICU. These figures have continued to drop from highs of more than 2,200 admissions last month, decreasing by more than 45% from the peak in mid-July.

Hospitalizations at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital have also dropped. Three weeks ago, the hospital reported 25 admissions, which dropped to a total of nine two weeks ago, and dropped further last week as the hospital reported just seven patients.

The number of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and those at Pitchess Detention Center, totaled 5,227 Tuesday, broken down into region as follows:

▪ City of Santa Clarita: 2,851

▪ Unincorporated — Acton: 58

▪ Unincorporated — Agua Dulce: 24

▪ Unincorporated — Bouquet Canyon: 6

▪ Unincorporated — Canyon Country: 112

▪ Unincorporated — Castaic: 1,891 (majority of Castaic cases come from Pitchess

Detention Center; exact number unavailable)

▪ Unincorporated — Lake Hughes: 2

▪ Unincorporated — Newhall: 6

▪ Unincorporated — Placerita Canyon: 0

▪ Unincorporated — San Francisquito Canyon/Bouquet Canyon: 0

▪ Unincorporated — Sand Canyon: 5

▪ Unincorporated — Saugus: 26

▪ Unincorporated — Saugus/Canyon Country: 1

▪ Unincorporated — Stevenson

Ranch: 146

▪ Unincorporated — Val Verde: 59

▪ Unincorporated — Valencia: 40