As County Approaches Less Restrictive Tier, Pasadena Sees 2 COVID-19 Deaths, 17 New Infections

Public health officials in Pasadena reported 17 new COVID-19 infections and two additional fatalities Tuesday, as Los Angeles County stood on the edge of targets that would potentially allow it to move out of the state’s more restrictive “tier” under the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy.”

Tuesday’s figures brought the city’s totals to 10,917 known infections and 316 deaths.

Huntington Hospital reported treating 38 COVID-19 patients, with nine of them being treated in intensive care units.

The hospital’s daily average of new COVID-19 admissions over the prior week fell to 3.9, which had not been seen since September.

With COVID-19 transmission slowing, Los Angeles County moved to the brink of emerging from the most restrictive tier of the state’s business-reopening guidelines on Tuesday, meaning indoor dining and movie theaters could potentially be cleared to reopen by late March.

Figures released by the state Tuesday put the county’s adjusted average daily rate of new COVID-19 infections at 7.2 per 100,000 residents. If that number falls to 7 per 100,000 residents and stays at that level for two weeks, the county will be able to move out of the restrictive “purple” tier of the state’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” and into the “red” tier.

Moving to the “red” tier would authorize the county to loosen restrictions on businesses — increasing capacity at indoor retailers to 50%, re-starting indoor restaurant dining at 25% of capacity, and reopening movie theaters, also at 25% capacity. Museums and aquariums could be permitted to operate at 25% capacity, and fitness centers could resume indoor activities at
10% of capacity.

The state updates tier assignments for all 58 counties every Tuesday.

To advance to a less-restrictive tier of the state’s blueprint, a county must meet all three metrics required by the state for at least two weeks.

To advance to the “red” tier, the county needs a new daily case rate of between 4 and 7 per 100,000 residents, along with an average testing positivity rate of 5% to 8% and a “health equity quartile” — a measurement of a county’s efforts to control the virus in disproportionately impacted communities — of 5.3% to 8%.

Los Angeles County’s testing positivity rate is 3.5% and the equity quartile is 5.1%, both good enough to actually qualify the county for the even less-restrictive “orange” tier of the four-level state blueprint. To advance to that tier, the county’s new case rate would have to drop to between 1 and 3.9 per 100,000 residents.

The county has been on the verge of exiting the “purple” tier before, meeting all the required metrics last fall. But the county was unable to maintain the metrics for the required two-week period, as case rates began to rise and eventually devolved to the winter surge.

Even if the county does move up to the “red” tier, it would still be up to county health officials to decide whether to actually loosen the business restrictions. Counties are permitted to impose more stringent restrictions than the state.

“The county’s state-adjusted rate of new cases has been rapidly falling in recent weeks, falling from about 28 per 100,000 residents three weeks ago, then dropping to 20, then to 12.3 last week.

On Monday, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer highlighted the improving numbers, while still urging residents to keep wearing masks, avoiding gatherings and practicing good hygiene to avoid a reversal of the trend.

With more groups of workers becoming eligible for vaccines on Monday, Ferrer again urged people not to make vaccination appointments if they are not in an eligible group. She said health officials “constantly get reports” about people gaming the state’s MyTurn computer system to make appointments regardless of their eligibility.

“If you were able to make an appointment but you’re not in one of the eligible groups, please cancel your appointment,” she said. “Don’t take away an appointment from an eligible worker and please don’t come to the vaccination site, because you will need to be turned away.”

The county on Tuesday reported another 91 COVID-19 deaths, increasing the countywide death toll since the start of the pandemic to 21,554.

Another 1,407 cases were announced Tuesday, lifting the overall total from throughout the pandemic to 1,194,242.

At the state level, the California Department of Public Health announced 2,533 new infections and 303 additional fatalities on Tuesday, raising the statewide totals to 3,481,611 cases of the virus and 52,497 deaths.

The state’s average positivity rate over the prior week was recorded at 2.3%, while the 14-day average stood at 2.6%, according to CDPH data.

As of Tuesday, L.A. County accounted for 34% of California’s total COVID-19 infections and 41% of the state’s fatalities.