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Pasadena Health Officials Respond to Governor’s Revised COVID-19 Guidance

Local Salons, Barber Shops to Remain Closed for Time Being, Despite State Clearance to Reopen

Published on Friday, August 28, 2020 | 3:13 pm
 

Salons and barbershops in Pasadena and county-wide have not yet received the go-ahead to resume indoor operations Monday, even though new state guidelines would permit it, officials said.

The Pasadena Public Health Department, as well as the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, have set out to revisit their public health order after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new, color-coded framework for tracking COVID-19 infections in each of the state’s counties to replace the former “county watch list” system.

As part of the new system, California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced that salons and barbershops would be permitted to resume indoor service as early as Monday, under state guidelines.

But Pasadena and Los Angeles County each have their own public health orders, which remained unchanged on Friday and continued to bar indoor hairstyling.

The Pasadena Department of Public Health expected to review, and possibly revise, its own health order in light of the new direction from the state, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said. Additional information was expected to be announced Monday.

Health officials were also looking into any other ways the new state directives may prompt changes to their own policy, she said.

County health officials were taking a similar route.

“Although the State today revised slightly the list of permitted activities in Tier 1 to allow for the reopening of both hair salons for indoor services and indoor shopping centers for permitted retailers, the Health Officer Order has not been changed to permit these re-openings,” the L.A. County Department of Public Health said via social media.

“As such, since County orders may be more restrictive than State guidance, all current restrictions remain in place until [public health officials] and the [Board of Supervisors] have an opportunity to review the suggested guidance from the State and take actions that are appropriate for our County,” the statement said.

Under the new COVID-19 framework, rather than simply being placed on a “watch list” if the spread of the virus remains at dangerous levels, counties are assigned one of four colors. Purple, where Los Angeles County was placed, indicates “widespread” transmission and is defined by average 14-day positivity rates of 8% or greater, or an average of more than seven new daily infections per 100,000 residents over the prior two-week period.

Los Angeles County’s two-week positivity rate on Friday stood at 13.1, according to public health officials

The three additional colored tiers in the new state framework are red, indicating “substantial” virus spread; orange, indicating moderate spread; and yellow, indicating minimal spread.

Pasadena public health officials announced 14 new COVID-19 infections and no new deaths on Friday, marking a 23rd straight day without a reported fatality, according to city data.

Since the start of the pandemic, the city has recorded a total of 2,345 infections and 111 deaths.

While officials have long cautioned that infection rates among the Latinx population was ahead of other racial or ethnic groups, the gap has grown even wider in recent days, reaching “staggering” levels, according to Derderian.

“The Latinx group [now] has almost double the rates of Black and white groups, and almost quadruple the rate of Asian groups or Pacific Islanders.

Public health officials have speculated in the past that the increased rate may be due to larger proportions of Latinx people who are employed as essential workers.

Huntington Hospital treated 37 COVID-19 patients on Friday, according to hospital data. Seven tests were pending.

L.A. County public health officials announced 1,509 new detected novel coronavirus infections and 31 additional fatalities on Friday.

Public Health Reports an Increase in MIS-C Cases in L.A. County Children and 31 New Deaths and 1,509 New Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County. Officials also reported three additional cases of the COVID-19-related condition MIS-C, which has now affected at least 28 children in L.A. County. No deaths due to the illness have been reported.

A total of 238,458 cases have been detected in the county, in all, and 5,732 people have succumbed to the virus, county health officials said in a written statement.

Just under 1,170 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county on Friday, with 32 percent of them being treated in intensive care units.

“This is the third straight day of daily hospitalizations under 1,200,” according to the county statement.

The county’s overall positivity rate remained at 10%, with 2.26 million tests administered.

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