7 New COVID-19 Deaths Reported in Pasadena

New COVID-19 infections continued their downward trend Wednesday, but seven people believed to have become infected amid the recent surge were added to the city’s tally of pandemic deaths.

The seven new fatalities primarily involved people who had become infected through household contact shortly after Christmas, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said. Information regarding their ages was not available.

The city saw 31 new infections, pushing the city’s average number of daily new cases over the prior week to 31.7, representing the lowest rate recorded since Nov. 18, according to city data.

In all, Pasadena has documented 10,562 COVID-19 infections and 287 deaths.

Huntington Hospital officials reported treating less than 100 COVID-19 patients on Wednesday for the first time since mid-December.

Hospital data showed COVID-19 patients were being treated at the facility Twenty-one of the patients were being housed in intensive care units.

The hospital hasn’t had fewer COVID-19 patients on its grounds since mid-December. By mid-January, the number of patients had grown beyond 200.

Over the past week, Huntington Hospital reported an average of 11.9 daily COVID-19 admissions, hospital data shows. The average reached as high as more than 26 new patients admitted per day during late-December and remained near record levels through mid-January.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported another 141 deaths due to the coronavirus Wednesday, lifting the overall death toll to 18,500.

Another 3,434 cases were also reported, raising the total number from throughout the pandemic to 1,155,309.

Deaths and cases have been trending downward in recent weeks as the county recovers from the winter surge in cases, as have hospitalizations.

According to state figures, there were 3,772 people hospitalized due to COVID in Los Angeles County as of Wednesday, and 1,105 people were in intensive care.

That’s a dramatic drop from early January when there were more than 8,000 people hospitalized.

L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said the decline in cases provides hope, but she tempered her optimism.

“Our optimism around this decrease is cautious,” she said. “The number is still more than three times the average daily case rates we were reporting in September. And also, we’re at a time of the year when people may be more tempted to gather. It’s our hope that all residents are choosing to not get together with people from outside their household or to travel to celebrate the Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day or Presidents Day.’”

Statewide, officials announced 8,390 infections and 518 deaths on Wednesday.

The California Department of Public Health has recorded a total of 3,362,981 cases of the virus and 44,995 fatalities.

The state’s average positivity rate over the prior week continued trending downward to 4.8%, while the 14-day average was recorded at 5.5%.

As of Wednesday, L.A. County represented 34% of California’s total COVID-19 infections and 41% of associated fatalities.

City News Service contributed to this report.