Declining COVID-19 Infections in Pasadena Reach Plateau

Health officials in Pasadena added 13 COVID-19 infections and one new death to the city’s pandemic tally on Thursday.

The new figures brought Pasadena’s totals to 10,962 documented cases of the virus and 318 fatalities.

The rate of new infections dropped steadily since mid-January until reaching a low point of 14.4 average daily infections per week on Feb. 25, according to city data. New infections have inched up slightly since then, reaching a weekly average of 18.3 new daily infections as of Thursday.

The number of COVID-19 patients at Huntington Hospital continued to decline, with 37 reported on Thursday. Nine of them were being housed in intensive care units.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 2,253 new infections and 119 additional deaths.

The figures raised the county’s totals to 1,198,098 documented COVID-19 cases and 21,778 deaths.

Just over 1,400 patients were hospitalized with the virus in L.A.County, officials said. Thirty-two percent of them were being treated in ICUs.

L.A. County Director of Public Health urged the public to avoid Spring Break travel.

“We may just be weeks away from reducing transmission in L.A. County enough so that additional re-openings are permitted. However, with increased case numbers in other states, and more circulating variants of concern, spring travel can lead to another surge that frankly would be almost impossible to tolerate,” Ferrer said.

“Travel increases the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19. To avoid this, please postpone travel and continue doing your part to slow the spread so that our recovery journey isn’t sidelined.”

Officials reminded county residents that a travel advisory remains in effect in L.A. County, meaning that anyone arriving in the county is required to self-quarantine for 10 days.

At the state level, the California Department of Public Health announced 3,504 new infections and 273 new deaths, bringing the statewide totals since last March to 3,488,467 infections and 53,048 fatalities.

The statewide average positivity rate over the prior week was recorded at 2.2%, and the 14-day average stood at 2.6%, according to the CDPH.

As of Thursday, L.A. County accounted for 34% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 41% of the state’s fatalities.