Pasadena Goes 3 Weeks Without a COVID-19 Death

Pasadena on Thursday marked three weeks without a reported COVID-19 fatality, as 18 new infections were reported in the city, officials said.

The last COVID-19-related death in Pasadena was reported on Oct. 8, according to city data. A total of 129 people have lost their lives to the virus.

Eighteen new infections detected on Thursday raised the city’s total number of cases to 2,819.

Huntington Hospital reported treating 23 COVID-19 patients.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced 1,745 new infections on Thursday, marking the highest number of cases reported in a single day since August that was not the result of backlogged data.

Nineteen additional fatalities were documented, the county Department of Public Health said in a written statement.

In total, county officials have reported 305,070 COVID-19 infections and 7,044 deaths.

Officials said 750 patients were hospitalized throughout L.A. County with novel coronavirus on Thursday. Thirty-one percent of them were being treated in intensive care units.

L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said the increase in cases was a cause for concern.

“The high numbers of daily cases are very concerning because, as we have seen in the past, increases in cases lead to increases in hospitalizations and deaths. These increases impede our ability to move forward with re-opening additional sectors and getting more children back to school,” she said.

“As individuals, we get to choose whether to party or help our economy recover; we get to choose whether to protect others from our respiratory droplets or infect others who may go on to need hospital care or even die. What we don’t get to do is sit on the sidelines,” according to Ferrer. “We have an awesome opportunity to slow the spread with every decision we make about how we interact with others.”

Statewide, 4,191 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday, along with 66 additional deaths.

State health officials had documented 912,904 infections and 17,541 fatalities, in all.

The average positivity rate over the prior seven days was 3.3 percent, according to a CDPH statement. The 14-day average was 3 percent.

As of Thursday, L.A. County represented 33 percent of California’s total COVID-19 infections and 40 percent of the state’s deaths.