Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health stated Friday that if the county’s COVID-19 vaccine allotment was not increased, efforts to get the vaccine to adults within the county would “likely extend well into 2022.”

On Friday, Dr. Paul Simon, science officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH), gave an update on the county’s efforts to rollout the COVID-19 vaccine.

“If we are able to receive 500,000 doses of vaccine each week, we would have the potential to reach 75% of the adult population in the county by mid-summer,” Simon said, 

However, Simon noted that if vaccine dose availability continues at its current rate —  approximately 150,000 doses per week — L.A. County’s vaccination efforts will “likely extend well into 2022.”

“We have a large network of public and private partners currently administering vaccines. This network can be greatly expanded as vaccine supply increases. However, we are currently severely constrained by what by what is now a very limited number of doses,” Simon said. “The latest allotment, which (is) allocated for next week, was less than 150,000 doses, and most of this allotment will be needed for second doses for those who received the first dose three weeks ago.”

An additional 9,277 COVID-19 cases were reported in Los Angeles County on Friday, along with 256 deaths, according to SImon.

On Thursday, health officials announced that the 7-day average of new cases had decreased by 30 percent, and hospitalizations had also gone down 7 percent since last week.

The new cases reported today bring the county’s cumulative total to 1,054,802 positive cases of COVID-19 and 14,894 deaths since March 2020, according to the department.

As of Friday, there were 7,073 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 24 percent of which were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Testing results are available for nearly 5,327,000 people, with 19 percent of people testing positive.

According to California health officials, the Southern California Region has 0.0% staffed adult ICU capacity remaining as of Friday.

Health officials say that at its current rate, one person in Los Angeles County dies of COVID-19 every eight minutes.

For those who have just returned from a trip outside of Los Angeles County, they must quarantine in place for 10 days and monitor for symptoms for 14 days. Testing is suggested if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or if one is possibly exposed to someone who was positive.

On Friday, 188 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Santa Clarita Valley, with 21,887 cumulative cases having been reported in the valley since March of 2020, according to the LADPH. These cases include:

• 16,359 in the City of Santa Clarita* (+155)
• 38 in the unincorporated areas of Bouquet Canyon
• 660 in the unincorporated areas of Canyon Country (+9)
• 3,321 in Castaic* (+8)
• 59 in the unincorporated areas of Newhall
• 111 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus (+1)
• 26 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus/Canyon Country
• 887 in Stevenson Ranch (+13)
• 148 in the unincorporated areas of Valencia
  
• 252 in the unincorporated areas of Val Verde (+2)
• 13 in unincorporated Sand Canyon
• 13 in San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon
  

In nearby Acton, there have been 373 cumulative cases (+2), as well as 191 cases in Agua Dulce (+4).

*As of Wednesday, Jan. 20, public health officials have recorded 1,956 cumulative cases have been reported at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center, including 1,425 at the North County Correctional Facility. Those cases are distributed between both the City of Santa Clarita and Castaic totals.

An update for the number of COVID-19 cases in the Santa Clarita Valley is expected to be released later Friday afternoon.

There were 84 COVID-19 patients in Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital as of Friday, Jan. 22, while 937 patients have been discharged since the hospital’s first case was reported in March 2020, according to Patrick Moody, spokesperson for the hospital.

Three additional deaths were reported Friday, with a total of 107 coronavirus deaths at the hospital, with at least 164 COVID-19 deaths reported across the Santa Clarita Valley since March 2020.

See All Coronavirus Coverage: Coronavirus Coverage – COVID-19 Map

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