COVID-19 Surge Continues in Pasadena, With Second-Highest Number of New Cases and 1 New Death Reported Wednesday

Health officials in Pasadena reported 243 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, a figure surpassed only by a record 253 cases reported Tuesday. 

A single person was added to Pasadena’s death toll, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said. It was a 70-year-old man who was believed to have contracted the virus from a “household exposure.”

Contact tracers continued to link new infections to holiday gatherings, Derderian added.

In total, Pasadena has recorded 7,692 cases of COVID-19 and 169 fatalities.

Huntington Hospital reported treating 181 COVID-19 patients on Wednesday, with 28 of those people being cared for in intensive care units.

The facility admitted an average of 22 patients per day over the prior week, down from a peak of 26 last week, according to hospital data.

Meanwhile, Huntington Hospital staff members were preparing to begin administering the second and final round of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses on Thursday, according to hospital spokeswoman Dorey Huston.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines currently available require two separate injections, administered several weeks apart.

“We will administer second doses of Pfizer consistent with CDC and Pfizer guidance,” Huston said. “We will use our allocated Pfizer doses to complete vaccinations within our ethical framework and state and federal guidelines. We’ve been working closely with Public Health and will continue to do so to protect our healthcare workers.”

Huston said the “vast majority” of hospital personnel who have been offered the vaccine have taken it, “though some declined as they got it elsewhere  — another hospital — or for medical reasons.”

Once both doses have been administered, it generally takes between two and three weeks for “cellular immunity” to develop, and several weeks before recipients develop a “full antibody response,” according to a statement from Huntington Hospital.

A report released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed a rare but dangerous potential allergic reaction to the vaccine called anaphylaxis had been reported in a total of 21 patients, out of 1,893,360 administered first doses of the Pfizer vaccine between Dec. 14 and Dec. 23.

“Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening allergic reaction that does occur rarely after vaccination, with onset typically within minutes to hours,” according to the report. “Twenty-one cases were determined to be anaphylaxis — a rate of 11.1 per million doses administered — including 17 in persons with a documented history of allergies or allergic reactions, seven of whom had a history of anaphylaxis.”

The report concluded that health practitioners should be aware of the possibility of the rare reaction, observe patients post-vaccination, and be prepared to deal with it should it arise.

More frequently, but still rare, a “small percentage” of vaccine recipients experienced “mild to moderate” side effects such as tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, and fevers, which subsided within one day, according to the Huntington Hospital statement. “More people experienced these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose.”

A CDC assessment of risks associated with the Moderna vaccine, which was approved later than the Pfizer vaccine, is expected in the near future, officials said.

Los Angeles County public health officials announced 11.841 new infections and 258 additional deaths on Wednesday, raising the countywide totals to 852,165 cases of the virus and 11,328 deaths.

At 8,023, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients exceeded 8,000 for the first time, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health. Twenty percent of them were being treated in ICUs.

“The rate of new cases this month is translating into a disastrous increase in the number of people with severe COVID-19 symptoms being sent to our local hospitals and, tragically, we are now seeing more than 200 deaths a day,” the agency said in a written statement. 

“People who were otherwise leading healthy, productive lives are now passing away because of a chance encounter with the COVID-19 virus. This only ends when we each make the right decisions to protect each other.”

The county’s “test positivity rate” stood at 21.8%, officials said. It was 3.8% as recently as Nov. 1.

L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said the public health crisis has reached “epic proportions.”

“I am more troubled than ever before, and in part, my concern is rooted in the reality that it will take so much more for us to slow the spread given the high rate of community spread,” she said.

“We know — and are very appreciative — that so many of you are doing the right thing. We are grateful for your perseverance, diligence and patience. For the small number of people who either are not getting the message, or who are actively choosing to disregard it, we ask that you step up and do the right thing this month,” Ferrer said.

“In Los Angeles County, we have doubled the number of people passing away each day, and this reality has upended all aspects of our healthcare delivery system,” she continued. “Our tragedy continues until we get it together to change our actions. Each of us has a choice to make; we can protect and care for each other or we can exacerbate the desperate situation in front of us. I hope we move together to stop the surge.”

The California Department of Public Health announced 29,892 new infections and 459 new fatalities on Wednesday, raising the statewide overall figures to 2,482,226 cases of COVID-19 and 27,982 associated deaths.

The state’s average positivity rate over the prior two weeks was recorded at 12.7%, according to the CDPH.

As of Wednesday, L.A. County represented 34% of California total COVID-19 infections and 40% of the state’s fatalities.