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Pasadena saw more new COVID-19 infections than ever on Tuesday as health officials continued working through backlogged data left over from the New Year’s holiday weekend, officials said.
No new deaths were reported in the city, Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
“This is the highest number of cases we’ve reported,” she said. Health officials continued “slowly making progress” on a significant number of backlogged test results.
Since March, a total of 7,449 COVID-19 infections and 168 deaths have been documented in Pasadena, according to city data.
Officials at Huntington Hospital reported treating 192 COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, with 41 of them, or 21%, being treated in intensive care units.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced 13,512 new COVID-19 infections and 224 additional deaths on Tuesday, bringing the overall totals to 840,611 cases of the virus and 11,071 deaths.
An all-time high number of 7,898 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county, with 21% of them being treated in ICUs, amounting to “critical levels,” the agency said in a written statement.
“Healthcare workers and hospitals continue to be taxed and overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. The devastating impact of the pandemic is disrupting emergency medical care due to the sheer volume of COVID-19 patients and staffing limitations,” according to the county statement. “These challenges will get worse if we don’t slow COVID-19 spread.”
L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer urged the public to take action now to prevent the spread of the virus, as widespread public distribution of the available vaccines remains months away.
“L.A. County reached the terrible milestone of more than 11,000 deaths due to COVID-19. As a community, we must commit to stopping the spread of COVID-19 in its tracks so that we can save as many lives as possible,” she said.
“Rollout for COVID-19 vaccine continues in the phases recommended by the State and CDC as supply allows,” according to Ferrer.
“And while vaccines are a powerful tool, we do not need to wait for vaccines to stop new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and death,” she continued. “We can do that now. It takes every business and every resident to purposefully follow public health directives and safety measures. Please stay home and leave only for essential work or essential services.”
L.A. County’s overall positivity rate stood at 16%, with more than 4.8 million tests administered, officials said.
State health officials reported 31.440 new infections and 368 additional deaths on Tuesday. In total, California has recorded 2,452,334 infections and 27,003 fatalities.
The average positivity rate for the state over the prior week was 13.6%, while the 14-day average was 12.7%, according to a CDPH statement.
As of Tuesday, L.A. County accounted for 34% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 41% of the state’s fatalities.
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