Pasadena Surpasses 200 COVID-19 Deaths

Six new COVID-19-related fatalities reported in Pasadena on Thursday raised the city’s pandemic death toll beyond 200, officials said.

The newly reported deaths involved people, both in facility and community settings, who were exposed to the virus around late-November and early-December and died late last year, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said. The cases were added to official records as official death certificates were received.

Health officials also reported 98 new infections in the city.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Pasadena had recorded 9,559 total COVID-19 infections and 203 deaths.

Despite new cases Thursday that nearly doubled the number reported Wednesday, the overall average daily infections reported over the prior week remained on a downward trajectory, according to city data. An average of 88 people were being infected daily over the prior week, down from 198 on Jan. 10.

Huntington Hospital officials reported treating 179 COVID-19 patients, with 39 of them being treated in intensive care units.

Average daily COVID-19 admissions have been on a slow but steady decline at the hospital, dipping to 19.8 on Thursday, compared with 26 in late-December.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 8,512 new infections and 262 additional fatalities on Thursday, raising the county’s totals to  1,046,021 cases of COVID-19 and 14,641 associated deaths.

Officials reported 7,263 patients were hospitalized with the virus, with 23% of them being treated in ICUs.

L.A. County Director of Public Health offered condolences to those grieving.

“We know there are people across our community who have suffered tremendous loss. For those of you mourning the passing of a loved one, we wish you healing and peace,” she said.

“The process of getting everyone in L.A. county vaccinated will take several months and depends on vaccine availability. This is the most expansive vaccination campaign in recent history and further complicated by cold chain requirements and the need for two doses,” according to Ferrer.

“We are asking everyone to be patient while we work through the rollout of our currently limited supply of vaccine from the State. Our team is working very hard to ensure that once we receive vaccine doses they are distributed quickly through a vast network of private and public partners.”

The California Department of Public Health reported 19,673 newly detected infections and 571 fatalities, bringing the state’s totals to 3,039,044 cases of the virus and 35,004 deaths.

The statewide average positivity rate was slowly trending down, according to the CDPH. The average seven-day positivity rate was recorded at 9.3%, while the 14-day average was 11%.

As of Thursday, L.A. County represented 34% of California’s COVID0-19 infections and 42% of the state’s deaths.