New COVID-19 Cases Across L.A. County Spiked 20-Fold Over Past Month

The recent trend of increasing COVID-19 transmission continued in Pasadena and across Los Angeles County on Wednesday, with new infections at the county level increasing 20-fold over the past month, authorities said.

Twenty-one new infections were reported in Pasadena, according to the Pasadena Public Health Department. No deaths were documented in the city.

Wednesday’s case count tied that of Saturday, records show. Prior to that, the city hadn’t seen as many infections in a single day since March 3.

The new figures raised Pasadena’s pandemic totals to 11,593 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The local death toll remained at 351.

On average, health officials detected 15.6 new infections daily over the prior week, according to city records. It represented the highest average since March 5.

At the regional level, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 2,551 new infections on Wednesday, representing a 20-fold increase since June 21.

Seven deaths were also recorded, raising the county’s totals to 1,273,390 confirmed infections and 24,594 fatalities, the county Department of Public Health said in a written statement.

“Of the new cases reported by Public Health, 83% are among people under the age of 50 years old with 65% of new cases among people between the ages of 18 and 49 years old,” the statement said.

Officials listed 585 patients being treated for COVID-19 at county hospitals, with 23% of those people being treated in intensive care units. As of a month ago, there were 213 hospitalized patients.

The county’s test positivity rate continued creeping up and was recorded at 5.2%, according to county officials.

L.A. County Director of Public Health Dr. Brbara Ferrer once again offered condolences to those who have lost loved ones to the pandemic and implored the public to get vaccinated to prevent more.

“Because of the more infectious Delta variant and the intermingling of unmasked individuals where vaccination status is unknown, unfortunately, we are seeing a surge in cases in L.A. County that looks somewhat similar to last summer,” Ferrer said. “An important difference this summer is that with millions of people vaccinated, we are hopeful we will avoid similar increases in deaths that were experienced last year.

“By adding a mask requirement for everyone indoors, the risk for transmission of the virus will be reduced, and with increases in the number of people getting vaccinated, we should be able to get back to slowing the spread,” Ferrer said. “Sensible masking indoors adds a layer of protection to the powerful vaccines. It is important that we work together to drive down transmission so that there will be much less community transmission when schools reopen.”

State public health officials reported 5,285 new infections and 11 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the totals to 3,772,470 cases of the virus and 63,664 fatalities.

The statewide average positivity rate over the prior week was recorded at 4.5%, according to California Department of Public Health data.

As of Wednesday, L.A. County represented 34% of California’s total COVID-19 infections and 39% of the state’s deaths.

Related:

Pasadena Issues Updated Health Order Requiring Indoor Masking, Regardless of Vaccination Status