Pasadena Reports 12 New COVID-19 Cases

Health officials in Pasadena announced 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday as the city recorded a month without a fatality for the first time since March, but county officials warned the region is in the midst of a surge.

The dozen new cases raised Pasadena’s total infections to 2,953, according to city data. The death toll has remained at 129 since Oct. 8.

Over the prior seven days, the city had seen an average of 15.3 infections each day.

Huntington Hospital reported treating 25 COVID-19 patients on Monday.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials reported 1,431 new infections and five additional fatalities as they cautioned that the county was seeing a viral surge. Monday’s figures were artificially low due to a lag in reporting, officials added.

The new figures brought the countywide totals to 323,625 infections and 7,177 deaths, the agency said in a written statement.

“L.A. County is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 transmission,” the statement said. “From mid-September to late-October new reported cases went from a little over 750 cases per day to almost 1,400 cases per day. Over the weekend, Public Health reported for Saturday and Sunday a total of 4,656 cases; 2,418 new cases for Saturday and 2,238 new cases for Sunday. These numbers are demonstrating real and alarming increases.”

Officials urged anyone who has been to a large gathering recently to get tested for COVID-19.

Across L.A. County, 855 patients were hospitalized with the virus on Monday, officials said. Twenty-nine percent of them were being treated in intensive care units.

L.A. Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer linked the spike in infections to unnecessary risks.

“We are once again at a pivotal point in our recovery journey. There is no real path forward until we get back to slowing the spread,” she said. “We don’t have the luxury of ignoring our individual and collective responsibilities if we want to see more children go to school and businesses remain open.

“Recovery doesn’t continue when you have thousands of new cases each day, and many of these new cases stem from people taking risks that are frankly not appropriate,” Ferrer said. “It isn’t that hard to play by the rules, especially since these rules are what keeps some people alive and allows our economy to improve.”

State officials reported 7,212 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 additional deaths, bringing the statewide totals to 971,851 infections and 17,977 fatalities.

The average positivity rate over the prior week had climbed to 4.1 percent, and the 14-day average was 3.7 percent, according to a California Department of Public Health statement.

As of Monday, L.A. County accounted for 33 percent of California’s COVID-19 infections and 40 percent of the state’s deaths.