Santa Clarita declares coronavirus emergency; Magic Mountain closes through March

Santa Clarita declared a state of emergency Friday to deal with the coronavirus.

Under the order, all non-essential city services will be suspended for 14 days and all municipal facilities will be closed to the public.

The move comes as Six Flags Magic Mountain, located in the city, announced it was suspending operations through the end of March.

L.A. County Public Health Department officials confirmed eight new cases of the novel coronavirus Friday, bringing the local total to 40.

Three of those cases are likely the result of community transmission, as the source of exposure is unknown. Two of the individuals are hospitalized, public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said at a news conference.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said in a news release Friday that it was treating a child between the ages of 6 and 9 with COVID-19. The child, who had no history of travel and has an unrelated underlying medical condition, was in isolation, as were the parents, the hospital said.

Officials said they expect cases to expand significantly as more people get tested. Ferrer said L.A. County got more test kits this week, and noted that initial testing limitations have made estimates difficult to gather.

“Its very hard to know how many cases we have,� she said.

On Monday L.A. County officials will release geographic locations and age groups of the known cases. Those who may be close contacts of individuals who test positive for the virus may start receiving “blanket quarantines,� rather than being interviewed first, Ferrer said.