Pasadena Health Officials Report 40 New COVID-19 Infections

Forty new COVID-19 infections were detected in Pasadena on Monday, while total cases reported in Los Angeles County topped 400,000, authorities said.

No new fatalities were reported in the city, keeping Pasadena’s death toll stable at 132.

A total of 3,711 COVID-19 cases had been documented since the start of the pandemic, according to city data.

Over the past week, Pasadena saw an average of 43.7 new infections per day. The average has remained above 40 since Nov. 22, after dropping as low as 3.4 in mid-October, city data shows.

Huntington Hospital officials reported treating 57 COVID-19 patients on Monday.

Regionally, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 5,150 new COVID-19 infections and 17 new deaths, raising the county’s totals to 400,919 cases of the virus and 7,655 fatalities.

“This is far higher than the County’s peak number of daily cases during the summer surge, which averaged 2,950 cases on July 14,” the agency said in a written statement.

L.A. County Department of Public Health officials said 2,185 patients were hospitalized with the virus on Monday. Twenty-four percent of them were being treated in intensive care units.

“This is more than two times the average seen on November 13, when the daily number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was 974,” according to the county statement. “Public Health remains concerned not only about the people who are suffering from COVID-19, but also about how increasing numbers in hospitalization could overwhelm the healthcare system.”

L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer described the current situations as “the most difficult moment in the pandemic.”

“The alarming increases in cases that we continue to witness is not due to random events out of our control — many of these cases could have been prevented if individuals and businesses were following the straightforward public health measures of masking, distancing and infection control,” she said. “As we are all seeing, when even relatively small numbers of businesses and individuals fail to adhere to sensible precautions, many others experience the consequences of these lapses.”

“Until there is a vaccine, each of us needs to protect all of those around us, both those we know and those we don’t,” according to Ferrer. “The virus is running rampant through almost every part of our county and our most sensible course of action is to make sure that everyone is always masked when they are around any others outside their household.”

The California Department of Public Health reported 14,034 new infections and 20 additional fatalities, raising the statewide tallies to 1,212,968 infections and 19,141 deaths.

The statewide positivity rate over the prior seven days was 6.5%, while the 14-day average wsa 6.2%, according to a CDPH statement.

As of Monday, L.A. County accounted for 33% of California’s COVID-19 cases and 40% of the state’s fatalities.

Our weekly #COVID19 case average has quadrupled over the last 4 weeks. We CAN #StopTheSpread by:

• Staying home when possible
• Wearing a mask in public?
• Staying at least 6 feet away from people we don't live with
• Avoiding gatheringshttps://t.co/ZYVoxFjK77 pic.twitter.com/9j9f4Z99MP

— City of Pasadena (@PasadenaGov) November 30, 2020