Pasadena Marks Grim Record as Six Reported Dead From Coronavirus in a Single Day

City officials reported six additional local Coronavirus fatalities on Thursday increasing the death count to 42, the highest single-day toll to date.

Meanwhile, the total number of cases continues to move towards 400. On Wednesday, health officials said 393 Pasadena residents have now tested positive for the virus.

The number comes as county officials continue to push for more testing centers in minority communities.

The new number came as the nation marked 60,000 deaths well ahead of August. Earlier this month, models said the national death toll would reach 64,000 fatalities in August.

Meanwhile, media officials were pushing an FDA emergency approval of Remdesivir, a drug that has shown some improvement in some patients.

More than 1 million Americans have tested positive for the virus since the first U.S. case was confirmed on Jan. 21.

The University of Washington model used by the White House currently projects 72,860 domestic deaths by Aug. 4, with a range of 57,453 to 121,468, after adjusting its projections earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the push for testing in minority areas continues in LA County.

A testing center was opened in Compton earlier this week.

Of the 977 people who died in LA County for whom ethnic data was available, 38 percent were Latinx, 28 percent were white, 18 percent were Asian, 13 percent were black and 1 percent were Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.

“Rates of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths are extremely high among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, county health director. “And they’re also higher among African-Americans and Latinx than among whites and Asians … Rates of cases and death are also higher among people with less income, while the rate of testing increases as income increases. these trends are troubling and of great concern and they suggest that more affluent residents may have better access to COVID-19 testing and to health treatment services, even as the rates of infection appear to be higher among lower-income communities and many communities of color,” she said. “These findings highlight the urgent need for more intensive efforts to expand access to culturally competent testing treatment and prevention strategies in the African-American, Latinx and Native American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as in our lower resourced neighborhoods.”