No New COVID-19 Cases or Deaths Reported on Sunday

Pasadena officials said there were no new COVID-19 infections or fatalities reported on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a handful of patients were being treated in the Huntington Hospital intensive care unit. As of Sunday, six of the hospital’s 35 coronavirus patients were being cared for in the ICU.

In the coming week, county officials are hoping that the beginning of the end of severe COVID-19 vaccine shortages will be in sight.

The county will receive its largest vaccine allotment to date this week, with nearly two-thirds of the supply being used to administer first doses.

Dr. Paul Simon, the county Department of Public Health’s chief science officer, said the county will receive 312,000 doses of vaccine this week, including 53,700 doses of the newly authorized single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Of the allotment, 62% will be used for first doses — reversing a recent trend of most shots being reserved for people in need of their second dose.

As of Friday, 2,415,460 doses of vaccine had been administered in the county, Simon said. That included 814,593 second doses, meaning many people have been fully vaccinated.

The increase in doses is welcome news in a county with increasingly large numbers of residents eligible to receive shots. 

Roughly 1.7 million essential workers, including teachers, became eligible this week, on top of healthcare workers and residents 65 and over who were already eligible.

And starting March 15, Simon said the county will adhere to new state guidance that expands eligibility to everyone 16 to 64 with an underlying health condition that makes them susceptible to severe illness or death from COVID-19.