Pasadena Sees 25 New COVID-19 Infections on Friday; 3,116 New Cases and 53 New Deaths Reported Countywide

Pasadena reported 25 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, but no new deaths, as county officials pointed to declining hospitalization rates as a sign of progress against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The new cases put the city’s total at 2,060, with 111 people who have succumbed to the virus, according to city data. But city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said that due to problems with the state’s laboratory reporting system, it was possible cases continued to be undercounted.

Huntington Hospital was treating 30 patients for COVID-19 on Friday, hospital data showed. Six tests were pending.

Los Angeles County public health officials also cautioned they were still working through problems with the state’s data reporting system as they announced 3,116 new COVID-19 cases and 53 new deaths on Friday.

“Public Health anticipates a continued reporting of a backlog of cases as the State electronic laboratory system (ELR) reporting delay is addressed,” the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a written statement.

But hospitalization rates, which were not affected by the ongoing data glitch, showed movement in the eight direction.

Officials reported 1,680 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in L.A.County on Friday, with 30% of them being treated in intensive care units.

“Currently, the County is seeing a downward trend in the number of daily hospitalizations,” the county statement said. “Last week, we reported more than 2,000 daily hospitalizations.”

A total of 204,167 cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the county since the onset of the pandemic, along with 4,918 fatalities.

The county’s positivity rate remained at 10%, with nearly 1.9 million tests administered.

L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer once again encouraged the public to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

“We remain guided by science and data that can be used appropriately to move us forward along the road to recovery in a measured way,” she said. “The lower number of daily hospitalizations we are seeing is an indicator that we are making some progress. However, we need to see lower rates and our future success depends on commitments we each make every day about doing our part, working together and sustaining efforts that get us to the other side of this pandemic.

“Our collective goals of slowing the spread of this virus and reopening and keeping open vital community and economic sectors means we must put off the parties, gatherings, and trips to crowded places in order to get to low community transmission rates so we can re-open our schools and get more people back to work,” according to Ferrer.

The California Department of Public Health announced 8,436 new infections and 142 additional deaths on Friday.

The state had seen 538,416 COVID-19 cases, in all, and 10,011 people had died from it.

As of Friday, based on the available data, Los Angeles County accounted for 38% of California’s COVID-19 cases and 49% of the state’s coronavirus deaths.