New Health Order Requires Masks at Outdoor Mega Events

According to a new LA County health order, as of 11:59 p.m. Aug. 18 face masks will be required at all outdoor mega events, except when eating.

Pasadena’s specific health order is being finalized and will go in effect at midnight this Thursday. It is expected to impact a number of events at the Rose Bowl in particular, including UCLA football spectators.

According to the County’s order, COVID-19 cases and positivity rates continue to increase.

Health experts continue to battle the more contagious delta variant of the Coronavirus, and millions of people remain unvaccinated.

Locally, 34 people battling the virus have been admitted to Huntington Hospital and eight of them are in the Intensive Care Unit.

“We are still experiencing a surge,” Public Health Director Dr. Ying-Ying Goh told the City Council on Monday. “We are in the same high level of transmission as LA County and Long Beach.”

According to Goh the local case rate has risen to 31 new cases per day since July 4.

No fully vaccinated residents have died from the virus in Pasadena.

Unvaccinated residents are 3.5 times more likely than vaccinated residents to contract the virus.

County figures show that the vast majority of people hospitalized with COVID are not vaccinated. During the month of July, vaccinated residents represented just 13% of people hospitalized with the virus.

According to the health department, infection rates show that unvaccinated people are almost four times more likely to get infected with COVID-19. The case rate for unvaccinated individuals is 243 cases per 100,000 people, while the case rate for fully vaccinated people is 66 cases per 100,000 people.

Vaccinated people are about 14 times less likely to be hospitalized than their unvaccinated or partially vaccinated counterparts, health officials said.

With the newly provided blessing of the federal government, L.A. County health officials began offering third doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines Saturday for people with severely compromised immune systems.

Among those qualifying for the booster shots are organ transplant recipients, people undergoing cancer treatment, HIV patients and people on select “immunosuppressive medications.”

The health department urged people to consult their doctors to confirm their eligibility for the third shot, which should be administered at least 28 days following the second dose.

The third doses are being offered at vaccination sites in the county offering the Pfizer and Moderna shots. People looking for the shots will be able to simply “self-attest” that they have a qualifying medical condition.

The booster shots received final approval last week from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.