Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LAPDH) officials announced Tuesday that the county is “very close” to meeting coronavirus thresholds to allow more sectors to reopen in the next month.

Los Angeles County remains in the most restrictive purple tier in the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. In order to move into the red tier and have additional opportunities for re-openings, L.A. County’s daily case rate must be at or below 7 new cases per 100,000 people and the County’s test positivity rate must be at or below 8%, according to the Blueprint.

As of March 2, L.A. County’s adjusted case rate is 7.2 new cases per 100,000 people, and with a test positivity rate of 3.5%, just above the threshold to move to the red tier, according to LADPH Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer.

“L.A. County is very close to meeting the metric thresholds for the less restrictive red tier in the State’s Blueprint for a Safety Economy, which will provide our county with more opportunities to reopen for additional activities,” Ferrer said.

If Los Angeles County’s adjusted case rate drops to 7 new cases per 100,000 people next week, the County must continue to show a case rate of 7 new cases per 100,000 people or less for two consecutive weeks before it can move to the red tier and be eligible for additional re-openings, including on-site learning for grades 7 through 12.

Once the county reaches this red tier, officials can choose to increase retail capacity and allow several sectors to open indoors with modifications and capacity limits including museums, zoos, aquariums, gyms, movie theaters, restaurants and places of worship.

With elementary schools already beginning to open in Santa Clarita during the “purple” tier, in the red tier, middle and high school can also open, although district guidance may be required before students can return to classrooms.

An additional 1,407 COVID-19 cases were reported in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, along with 91 deaths.

This brings the county’s cumulative total to 1,194,242 positive cases of COVID-19 and 21,554 deaths since the onset of the pandemic, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH).

Testing results are available for over 5,844,000 people, with a cumulative 19 percent of people testing positive.

“Since there is still widespread transmission occurring in our county, we are hoping we do not see increases in the number of daily cases in the upcoming weeks that will pause our recovery journey and cause more hospitalizations,” Ferrer said.

As of Tuesday, there were 1,502 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 32 percent of which were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The Southern California Region has 25.3% staffed adult ICU capacity remaining as of the state’s last update on Tuesday, March 2, according to state health officials.

Residents are encouraged to continue to prevent the spread of COVID-19, to not gather in crowds, stay home when sick, wear a face covering and maintain physical distance from others when outside of the home.

“With an increase in the circulation of variants, we need to ask our residents, workers, and businesses to continue following the safety measures and implement Health Officer Order directives, including wearing a mask and physically distancing from others not in your household to prevent spread,” Ferrer said.

A travel advisory remains in effect for L.A. County. Anyone who is arriving in Los Angeles County must self-quarantine for 10 days. Residents are asked to remain at home or lodging for 10 days and avoid contact with others.

On Tuesday, 40 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Santa Clarita Valley, with 25,398 cumulative cases having been reported in the valley since March of 2020, according to the LADPH. These cases include:

• 19,153 in the City of Santa Clarita* (+34)
• 44 in the unincorporated areas of Bouquet Canyon
• 790 in the unincorporated areas of Canyon Country
• 3,597 in Castaic* (+5)
• 66 in the unincorporated areas of Newhall
• 1 in Placerita Canyon
• 14 in San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon
• 17 in unincorporated Sand Canyon
• 131 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus
• 40 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus/Canyon Country
• 1,055 in Stevenson Ranch (+1)
• 309 in the unincorporated areas of Val Verde
• 181 in the unincorporated areas of Valencia

*As of Sunday, Feb. 28 public health officials have recorded 1,977 cumulative cases have been reported at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center, including 1,439 at the North County Correctional Facility. Those cases are distributed between both the City of Santa Clarita and Castaic totals. Those cases are distributed between both the City of Santa Clarita and Castaic totals.

In nearby Acton, there have been 446 (-1) cumulative cases, as well as 254 cases in Agua Dulce.

There were 16 COVID-19 patients in Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital as of Monday, March 1, while 1,151 patients have been discharged since the hospital’s first case was reported in March 2020, according to Patrick Moody, spokesperson for the hospital.

One additional death was reported at Henry Mayo on Monday, with a total of 143 coronavirus deaths at the hospital, with at least 253 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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