10 of 11 New COVID-19 Cases in Pasadena on Monday Among Vaccinated People

Eleven new COVID-19 infections were detected in Pasadena on Monday, including 10 among vaccinated individuals, officials said.

Two new deaths were also reported, according to city spokesperson Lisa Derderian. One of the victims was an unvaccinated woman in her 70s, and the other was a patient who was vaccinated but also suffered from underlying health conditions.

Monday’s figures raised Pasadena’s pandemic totals to 13,179 cumulative confirmed infections and 361 fatalities.

In recent weeks, the majority of new infections have involved people who had been vaccinated, Derderian said. But in those cases, the symptoms tend to be “very mild” compared to the unvaccinated.

Ten new cases of the virus were detected on Saturday and 12 on Sunday, according to Pasadena Public Health Department data.

The average number of daily infections in the city dropped to 14 on Monday, which was the lowest rate recorded since July 17.

At Huntington Hospital, officials reported treating 15 COVID-19 patients as of Monday, with five of them being cared for in intensive care units.

Those hospitalized skewed heavily toward not being vaccinated, records show.

About 80% of those admitted to Huntington Hospital as of Monday were unvaccinated, along with 100% of those in ICUs, according to hospital data.

The  Pasadena Unified School District listed eight new cases of the virus among students and four among staff over the past week.

At the regional level, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 986 new COVID-19 infections and five deaths on Monday, noting the usual delay in reporting over the weekend.

The county has seen 1,455,155 cases of the virus and 26,018 deaths, in all.

Hospitalizations continued to trend downward, according to an L.A. County Department of Public statement. The figure represented a decrease of 146 patients over the past week and 311 patients over the past two weeks.

Monday’s countywide test positivity rate was measured at 1.1%, officials said.

L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer once again urged all eligible county residents to get vaccinated, both for their own safety and for that of others.

“While the science about the virus continues to advance, there should be no confusion about the effectiveness of the vaccines at moving us more quickly to low rates of community transmission,” she said.

“For those whose work includes supporting our most vulnerable — those who are sick or facing an emergency or needing help or cannot be vaccinated — we ask that you do your part and comply with vaccination requirements,” Ferrer said.

“This pandemic has made it clear that individual decisions have an enormous impact on our collective well-being. While it is easy to cast safety measures and vaccination requirements as a curtailment of individual freedoms, it is perhaps more useful to view these as sensible actions that allow us to protect each other from a virus that destroys lives and livelihoods,” Ferrer said.

The California Department of Public Health documented 22,969 new infections and 275 deaths on Monday, raising the statewide totals to 4,471,635 cases of COVID-19 and 68,362 fatalities.

The state’s weekly positivity rate was measured at 2.6%, according to CDPH data.

As of Monday, L.A. County represented 33% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 38% of the state’s deaths.