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Pasadena saw more than 200 new COVID-19 infections for the third day in a row on Thursday, along with two additional deaths attributed to the virus, authorities said.
With 203 new cases of COVID-19 detected in the city and two new deaths reported, the city has seen a total of 7,895 infections and 171 fatalities, according to city data.
The two newly reported deaths both involved residents of senior care facilities, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said. Further details were not available Thursday afternoon.
“While there is encouragement as more people are getting vaccinated, there is still concern with the significant number of cases we’re seeing,” she said. “We had our highest infection numbers this week and the Christmas and New Year’s gatherings surge is just now coming in, so we don’t anticipate anything slowing down.”
“These numbers translate into sickness and death in many cases and our hospitals are overwhelmed,” Derderian said. “We continue to stress the need to stay home as much as possible because of COVID, and any other potential health matters that can arise when out and about while hospitals are saturated and care could be significantly delayed.”
Pasadena’s average daily infections over the prior week reached an all-time high of 177, city data shows.
Huntington Hospital reported treating 198 COVID-19 patients on Thursday, including 42 being cared for in intensive care units.
As officials continued overseeing the administration of vaccines, an online form was created by the city for eligible healthcare workers to request additional information about getting vaccinated at healthforms.cityofpasadena.net/v/Vaccine.
The #COVID19vaccine is currently being offered to healthcare workers providing direct care & long-term care facility staff and residents. Pasadena healthcare providers who'd like to receive the vaccine for themselves & staff should complete this form: https://t.co/P6aadGmF2e pic.twitter.com/s202cf49r0
— City of Pasadena (@PasadenaGov) January 7, 2021
At the county level, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced 19,719 additional infections and New Deaths and 218 deaths on Thursday, raising the county’s totals to 871,404 documented cases and L.A. County and a total of 11,545 deaths.
A record 8,098 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized throughout the county, the agency said in a written statement.
L.A. County’s overall positivity rate had grown to 17%, and the daily positivity test rate was measured at 20.4%, according to county officials.
L.A. County Director of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said it was up to county residents to end the ongoing surge.
“Everyone in L.A. County, businesses and residents, needs to follow the rules if there is any chance we can get out of this surge by the end of the month. Every day we report a large number of people newly infected with COVID-19, it is like a reset on the clock for when we can get back to our recovery journey,” she said.
“I implore everyone to stay home as much as possible. Shopping for anything except food and medicine and mingling with others are activities we all need to stop doing for the next few weeks as it increases risk,” according to Ferrer. “There are just too many people spreading the virus, too many people sick and hospitalized and each person that dies is one too many.”
State health officials announced 36,385 new cases of COVID-10 detected and 583 new deaths on Thursday.
Since the start of the pandemic, California Department of Public Health officials have tallied a total of 2,518,611 cases of the virus and 28,045 fatalities.
The statewide average positivity rate over the prior two weeks inched up to 12.9%, according to the CDPH.
As of Thursday, L.A. County accounted for 35% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 41% of the state’s deaths.
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