City Reports No Deaths Or Additional COVID-19 Cases Sunday

Pasadena public health officials on Sunday reported no new COVID-19 cases or virus-related fatalities.

The city’s total case count remained at 11,080 with 330 deaths.

On Friday, the county adjusted its coronavirus reopening guidelines to allow breweries, distilleries and wineries to reopen for indoor service if food is provided. The county had previously permitted outdoor service with no food provided.

Under the new guidance, “Wineries, Breweries and Craft Distilleries … may operate indoors at 25% of maximum indoor capacity, only if the establishment sells alcohol in the same transaction as a bona fide meal,” according to the county Department of Public Health.

Transplants Brewing in Palmdale had sued the county in 2020, claiming its shutdown orders discriminated against the brewery and similar businesses.

“It’s unclear why the county continues to discriminate against breweries and wineries, but it finally came to its senses and revised the guidelines allowing Transplants and other independent businesses to begin getting back to business,” said attorney Khail Parris, whose law firm represented Transplants in its lawsuit against the county. 

“These establishments have been hit the hardest because they rely on regular customers to make a profit, and between the pandemic and the completely inconsistent guidelines provided by the county of Los Angeles, they were barely holding on,” Parris said.

The move came at the end of a week that saw many local businesses reopening, with limits placed on attendance, as the county moved into the red tier of the state’s color-coded reopening framework.

Meanwhile, California officials said Saturday that they have updated K-12 school guidance to align with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated guidance Friday, indicating that physical distancing among students in classrooms could be reduced from the standard six feet down to three.

L.A. County Chief Science Officer Dr. Paul Simon said that guidance will likely be incorporated into the county’s guidelines for schools, although health officials have not yet had a chance to discuss the issue. He stressed, however, that the three-foot social distancing guidance applies only to schools.

“It’s specifically in the classroom,” Simon said. “So what I don’t want folks to do is say, ‘Well, gee, three feet is fine virtually anywhere.’ That’s definitely not the case. It was very specific in their guidelines, three feet in the classroom — elementary, middle and high school classrooms — but making sure everybody is wearing face masks all the time and that the classes are cohorting.”