83.4% of Pasadenans Vaccinated Against COVID, Higher Than Either County or State Averages

The overwhelming majority of Pasadenans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 has grown even larger, with public health officials reporting this week that 83.4% of the city’s residents over the minimum eligible age of 12 have met the benchmark.

Another 8.9% of the city’s eligible population had already received at least one dose of two-dose vaccine regimens, officials said.

By comparison, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported this week that 63% of eligible residents had been fully vaccinated county-wide, while another 9.3% had already received at least one vaccine dose.

At the state level, 64.7% of the eligible population had been fully vaccinated, and another 10.3% had received at least one shot, according to California Department of Public Health data.

Meanwhile, the Pasadena Public Health Department reported 28 newly detected cases of COVID-19 in the city on Wednesday, but no additional deaths.

Since the start of the pandemic, Pasadena had seen 12,435 infections and 355 deaths, according to city officials and records.

The city’s weekly infection rose slightly, growing to an average of 34.1 new COVID-19 cases detected each day, PPHD data shows.

L.A. County health officials reported 4,046 new infections and 34 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the county’s totals to 1,359,672 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 24,967 fatalities.

Just over 1,750 COVID-19 patients were being treated at county hospitals, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a written statement. Twenty-three percent of them were being housed in intensive care units.

Wednesday’s county-wide daily positivity rate was measured at 3.6%.

Authorities noted an increase in infections among homeless individuals in recent weeks.

Fewer than 30 infections were reported each week among the unhoused in L.A. County between late-February and late-July, according to the statement. “This week, there were 185 new cases reported among people experiencing homelessness, which includes 71 cases from previous weeks that were newly identified as cases associated with people experiencing homelessness and are included in the new case totals.”

“We have a very large population of people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County, and the availability of emergency, interim, and permanent housing remains a priority, particularly during this long duration pandemic,” L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.

“People experiencing homelessness are at high risk of severe COVID-19 disease due to underlying health conditions, age, or both,” she added. “As we partner with others to reach people experiencing homelessness that are not yet vaccinated, layering protection at programs serving this population is critical. This includes offering isolation and quarantine facilities for those positive for COVID-19 and for those close contacts to positive cases who are unsheltered. As with previous surges, our strategies for reducing transmission must focus on those at high risk who are without adequate resources.”

State health officials announced 14,317 new COVID-19 infections and 90 deaths on Wednesday, which brought the statewide totals to 4,057,724 cases of the virus and 64,291 fatalities.

The statewide weekly positivity rate climbed slightly to 6.1%, according to CDPH data.

As of Wednesday, L.A. County represented 34% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 39% of the state’s deaths.