City Reports 59 Coronavirus Cases Sunday

City officials recorded 59 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday and no fatalities.

The new infections take the city across a grim threshold as it marked Pasadena’s 7,000th COVID-19 case.

All told, the city has reported 7,010 cases of the virus since the pandemic began and 167 fatalities. 

The new numbers came as the city released some information on local vaccinations. So far, 2,500 people have received the first of two shots aimed at hoping to curtail the virus.

The city has also received its allotment of the Moderna vaccine. 

Meanwhile, Huntington Hospital reported 188 COVID-19 cases, including 38 patients in the hospital’s intensive care unit. 

City News Service reported hospitalizations in L.A. County have decreased slightly, according to county health officials.

A total of 7,544 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized with the virus, with 21% in intensive care, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. That’s a decrease from the 7,627 patients reported on Saturday.

The county’s totals for the entire pandemic are now 818,639 cases and 10,773 fatalities.

The caseload has doubled in the past month.

County Health Director Barbara Ferrer again pointed at younger residents for driving up the number of cases. 

According to Ferrer, people ages 30 to 49, an average of 4,419 people per day, are testing positive for the virus, an 850% increase from early November, when an average of 463 tested positive daily. Among 18 to 29-year-olds, the daily average has more than doubled.

But those younger patients aren’t the ones dying from it. In a standard pattern, younger residents are being infected more often, then passing the virus to older residents, who are at higher risk of being hospitalized or dying. Ferrer noted that among people ages 80 and older, an average of 40 people are dying every day from the virus — up from four in early November.

“With no decline in the number of new cases, our hospitals continue to be overwhelmed,” Ferrer said. “As more and more people are rushed to hospitals, the tragic fact is that hundreds more people will die every week from COVID-19. These trends, unfortunately, will continue into January, and if we do nothing, definitely beyond.”