California Exceeds 65,000 COVID-19 Fatalities

The rate of COVID-19 infection remained relatively stable through the week as the statewide death toll surpassed 65,000 on Friday, officials said.

The California Department of Public Health announced 102 new fatalities, raising the statewide total to 65,033.

Another 13,785 infections brought the statewide pandemic total to 4,171,104, according to CDPH data.

The statewide average positivity rate over the prior week held steady at 5.4% for a third day in a row.

Pasadena public health officials reported 25 new infections detected in the city on Friday and no deaths. Daily infections have remained relatively stable this week, peaking at 30 on Tuesday.

The average number of new daily infections reported over the prior week in Pasadena stood at 26.1, PPHD data shows.

In total, the Pasadena Public Health Department had logged 12,671 cases of COVID-19 in the city and 354 fatalities.

At the county level, public health officials documented 2,789 new infections and 30 deaths on Friday, bringing Los Angeles County’s totals to 1,397,236 COVID-19 cases and 25, 211 fatalities.

“COVID-19 deaths have increased 6% over the past week to a 7-day average of 18 deaths per day,” the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a written statement.

Officials listed 1,723 patients being treated for the virus at hospitals across L.A. County, representing a decrease of 63 compared with Friday of last week, officials said.

Friday’s county-wide test positivity rate was recorded at 2.7%.

The most important and effective tool to combat the pandemic remains vaccination, L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.

This virus continues to cause serious, life-threatening illness among many who are infected and the differences in death rates between unvaccinated and vaccinated people are stark,” she said.

“Unvaccinated adults ages 18 to 49 have a death rate of almost 2 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with almost no deaths among vaccinated members of this age group,” according to Ferrer. “Meanwhile, adults over 50 who are unvaccinated were 28 times more likely to die as a result of COVID-19 than those over 50 who are vaccinated.”

As of Friday, L.A. County represented 33% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 39% of the state’s fatalities.