1 New Death, 3 New COVID-19 Cases Reported in Pasadena

Following more than a week without a reported COVID-19 fatality, health officials in Pasadena announced three new infections and one new death on Tuesday.

The newly reported death involved a man in his 80s, city spokesman Lisa Derderiain said. He was believed to have acquired the virus through “community contact.” His date of death was not available.

In all, Pasadena has reported 2,568 cases of COVID-19 and 123 deaths, according to city data. The last death in the city was reported on Sept. 21.

Huntington Hospital reported treating 23 COVID-19 patients on Tuesday.

Los Angeles County public health officials announced 905 nee infections and 39 additional fatalities on Tuesday, bringing the county’s totals to 269,284 cases of COVID-19 and 6,551 deaths.

Acting on a vote by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, the L.A. County Department of Public Health also announced it would begin considering wavers for potential school reopenings for students in kindergarten through 2nd grade.

“The program will begin accepting applications in early October for 30 schools per week and prioritize the issuance of waivers to schools with higher percentages of students qualified for free/reduced meals,” the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a written statement.

“Superintendents must submit school district waiver requests to re-open for approval by the local Health Officer. The decision to grant a waiver will be based on ensuring that schools are able to open in full adherence with the L.A. County school re-opening protocols,” the statement continued. “The process requires consultation with the California Department of Public Health prior to accepting or rejecting waiver applications.”

Meanwhile, county officials reported 714 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, with 34% of them being treated in intensive care units.

“Each day we think of the families across our communities experiencing the sorrow of losing someone they love to COVID-19. We are so sorry for your loss,”  L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.

 “We have to remember that with every reopening there is increased risk for COVID-19 transmission. Our cautious approach to re-opening, thus far, has led to slight decreases of daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and we will continue to move cautiously so that we can consider safely reopening additional services and businesses in the near future,” she said. “We will be reviewing waiver applications meticulously so that we can be assured that the schools have the protocols in place that will minimize COVID-19 spread as much as possible.”

L.A. County met many of the state’s metrics for moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2 under the COVID-19 monitoring framework, but does not yet qualify.

“L.A. County remains in Tier 1 due to the current adjusted daily case rate of 7.3 cases per 100,000 residents. Per the State guidelines, to move to Tier 2, the County’s case rate needs to be 7 or fewer new cases a day per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks,” the county statement said.

While the county’s recent positivity rate had declined to 2.9%, consistent with Tier 3 status, “the State places counties in the most restrictive tier when the metrics fall in two different tiers, so the County remains in Tier 1 because the daily case rate indicates there is still widespread transmission in our communities.”

At the state level, the California Department of Public Health reported 2,162 new COVID-19 infections and 32 new deaths.

The state had seen a total of 807,425 cases of the virus and 15,640 fatalities since the start of the pandemic.

The state-wide average positivity rate over the previous seven days was 2.8%, with the 14-day rate at 2.8%, the CDPH said in a written statement.

As of Tuesday, L.A. county accounted for 33% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 42% of the state’s deaths.