As 2020 draws to a close, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is once again reporting the highest number of deaths in a single day, partially due to a holiday backlog, officials said.

An additional 15,129 coronavirus cases were reported in Los Angeles County on Thursday, along with 290 deaths, according to officials with the LADPH.

In 2020, L.A. Public Health identified 770,602 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 10,345 deaths since March. 86% of the people who died from COVID-19 this year had underlying health conditions.

A significant number of deaths reported today are from the backlog associated with the Spectrum outage and holiday reporting delays, reads Thursday’s press release.

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In 2019, L.A. County saw an average of 165 deaths a day from all causes, while in 2020, the county has reported an average of 140 deaths a day from COVID-19 alone, L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said Wednesday.

“As we come to the end of 2020 and as this awful pandemic continues, I want to express our deepest sympathies to everyone who lost a loved one, a friend, a co-worker or a neighbor from COVID-19 this year. Our thoughts are with you and we wish you healing and peace,” said Dr. Barabara Ferrer, director of the LADPH.

The age group with the highest number of deaths per day currently are people over 80 years old. When the surge began in early November, there were 4 deaths a day on average for people over 80 years old. As of December 22, the county is experiencing 40 deaths a day on average for people over 80 years old.

As of Thursday, there were 7,546 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 20% of which were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Testing results are available for nearly 4,700,000 individuals with 15% of people testing positive. The daily test positivity rate is 22.5%. This high positivity rate remains alarming and should tell everyone that the coronavirus is very prevalent and persistent in all corners of the county, officials said.

According to the State, as of Thursday, Dec. 31, the Southern California Region has 0.0% staffed adult ICU capacity remaining.

Health officials say that at its current rate, one person in Los Angeles County dies of COVID-19 every 10 minutes as of Thursday afternoon.

At 12:00 a.m. Thursday, Public Health began the #Every10Minutes campaign and is sending tweets on Twitter every 10 minutes until midnight to honor those that have been lost and remind everyone to sacrifice to save lives, officials said.

#Every10Minutes someone in LA County is dying from #COVID19. Today, @lapublichealth is tweeting every 10 minutes with examples of the lives this virus has claimed.

Your actions can slow the spread. Wear a mask. Physically distance. Stay home this New Year’s Eve. pic.twitter.com/5Os56mJKTZ

— Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 31, 2020

“We thank everyone – as this year ends – for all you have done to protect each other and wish we didn’t need to ask folks to continue to forgo certain activities that are important to well-being,” said Ferrer. “Unfortunately, the urgency has never been greater to protect those we love and all those essential workers caring for our loved ones in healthcare facilities and providing us with essential services. Tonight, and throughout the weekend, we need everyone to stay home and celebrate the advent of the new year with just your immediate household. All it takes is one slip to have one exposure and the coronavirus has found another host, another victim. And, our dangerous surge continues. As we head into a new year, we wish everyone peace and ask that we work together to save lives.”

On Thursday, 302 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Santa Clarita Valley, with 16,387 cumulative cases having been reported in the valley in 2020, according to the LADPH.

These cases include:

• 11,849 in the City of Santa Clarita* (+234)
• 494 in the unincorporated areas of Canyon Country (+13)
• 2,929 in Castaic* (+22)
• 88 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus
• 619 in Stevenson Ranch (+19)
• 101 in the unincorporated areas of Valencia (+3)
• 184 in the unincorporated areas of Val Verde (+6)
• 56 in the unincorporated areas of Newhall (+3)
• 25 in the unincorporated areas of Bouquet Canyon (+1)
• 26 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus/Canyon Country
• 10 in unincorporated Sand Canyon (+1)
• Six in San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon

In nearby Acton, there have been 268 (+3) cumulative cases, as well as 135 (+4) cases in Agua Dulce.

*As of Tuesday, Dec. 29, 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.

As of Wednesday, Dec. 30, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital had conducted 15,270 COVID-19 tests. Of those, 2,464 had tested positive, and nine tests were still pending with Henry Mayo, according to Patrick Moody, spokesperson for the hospital.

There were 88 patients in the hospital as of Wednesday, Dec. 30, while 672 patients have been discharged since the hospital’s first case was reported in March, according to Moody.

One additional death was reported Wednesday, with the number of COVID-19 patients more than doubling over the past month.

There have been a total of 72 coronavirus deaths at the hospital, with at least 109 COVID-19 deaths reported across the Santa Clarita Valley since March.

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

Ed. Note: These numbers are subject to change based on further investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

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