City Council Receives COVID-19 Updates on City’s First Day in Red Tier

The City Council received two updates during Monday’s City Council meeting on efforts to combat COVID-19.

Public Health Director Dr. Ying-Ying Goh spoke to the council about the reopening of local businesses and the status of vaccinations.

“COVID-19 case rates have decreased significantly,” Dr. Goh told the Council. “We are averaging seven new cases a day. Please note we are not at zero.”

Goh called on local residents to continue wearing masks and washing their hands frequently.

Indoor dining at restaurants, movie theaters and local gyms reopened with limitations on Monday morning after the city entered the red tier.

According to Dr. Goh, 34 percent of Pasadena residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 19 percent have been fully vaccinated. Also, 85 percent of local residents 65 and older have been vaccinated.

President Biden announced last week that starting May every adult hoping to be vaccinated would be able to get the vaccine.

“The state has told us that elected officials qualify for vaccines when we add government workers,” said Dr. Goh.

The city could next go to the orange tier, but the timing remains uncertain. The case rate needs to fall to less than four to enter that tier. The case rate is announced on Tuesdays. Four million people must be vaccinated to enter that tier.

To move to the next tier, Pasadena statistics are joined with Long Beach and LA County. The city can be more restrictive, but not more liberal than the state.

City Manager Steve Mermell said the city is not rolling out a mandatory vaccination policy for city employees.

“I’m looking forward to getting into the tier where all city employees are eligible to get the vaccine,” Mermell said.

Mermell said there has been some discussion with City Attorney Michele Beal Bagneris, but so far there is not a mandatory vaccine policy for city employees.

Councilmember John Kennedy renewed his calls to have the City Council vaccinated. Elected officials in Long Beach have been vaccinated.

“We should not play around with this. We need to vaccinate the mayor and the city council. Long Beach did it.”

Mayor Victor Gordo said the council should wait its turn and allow high risk residents to be vaccinated.

On Monday the state expanded the guidelines allowing anyone over 16 with some serious medical conditions to receive the vaccine.

The city now has all three vaccines, but only one allotment of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The one-shot vaccines will be used this week according to Dr. Goh.

Assistant City Manager Julie Guitierrez also provided the City Council federal relief measures signed by President Biden last week.

President Joe Biden last week signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. The package includes $350 billion for cities and counties of all populations.

“It’s still very early,” Mermell said. “President signed last week. There has been a lot of information in a broad general sense. The details are still unclear.”

Pasadena is estimated to receive about $52 million. Half of it will be allocated in the next 60 days and the city can use the money through December 2024.

The package includes money for homelessness, rental assistance and FEMA reimbursement among other items.

The money cannot be used for pensions and tax reductions. The Department of Treasury is expected to publish guidelines on how the money can be spent in the coming days.

Allocations of the funds will be made via the City Council, according to Mermell.

“Once we receive these dollars we have a responsibility to ensure they are impactful and that we have something to show for them,” Gordo said. “We need to look at real infrastructure changes that the generations that are going to pay for this are going to enjoy.”

Gordo called on staff to replenish the city’s reserves, so the city can respond to a future crisis.