L.A. County Surpasses 25,000 COVID-19 Deaths

More than 25,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, officials somberly announced Thursday.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 35 new fatalities, placing the county’s pandemic death toll at 25,002.

And another 3,239 confirmed infections brought L.A. County’s total of COVID-19 cases to 1,362,848, according to L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer.

“It is with much sorrow that we mark this devastating milestone of 25,000 deaths in our county. This virus continues to cause debilitating and dangerous illness among many who are infected,” she said.

“Losses we suffer now are particularly sad because almost all of them are preventable with extremely safe and widely available vaccines,” Ferrer said. “Given the importance of continuing our recovery journey, we need to act with a sense of urgency to reduce community transmission as quickly as possible. Layering on public health protections is sensible while noting that the most effective tool for slowing the spread is the vaccine.”

COVID-19 has become one of the county’s leading causes of death, “surpassing stroke, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease,” the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a written statement.

Officials reported 1,790 patients were hospitalized Thursday across L.A. County with the virus, with 23% of them being treated in intensive care units.

In Pasadena, 21 new infections were reported, raising the city’s total of cases to 12,456, according to Pasadena Public Health Department data.

With no additional fatalities reported, the local death toll remained at 355, according to city officials.

Pasadena’s weekly infection rate dropped slightly to an average of 30 new cases each day.

Huntington Hospital reported treating 35 COVID-19 patients on Thursday, with 11 of them in ICUs.

California Department of Public Health officials reported 12,359 new COVID-19 cases and 92 fatalities on Thursday, bringing the overall totals to 4,070,083 infections and 64,383 deaths.

The state’s weekly positivity rate was recorded at 6.1%.

As of Thursday, L.A. County accounted for 33% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 39% of the state’s fatalities.