Pasadena Sees 203 New COVID-19 Cases in Single Day, Highest Daily Count Since January 8

Pasadena officials said Tuesday the city saw its largest single-day count of new COVID-19 infections late last week as the recent surge of new cases reached a level not seen since last January’s surge of the Delta variant.

However, the jump in new cases has been absent a precipitous increase in hospitalized patients and deaths.

City spokesperson Lisa Derderian said Pasadedna’s Public Health department recorded 203 and 12 probable new COVID-19 cases last Friday. That is the highest single day since 238 cases were recorded on January 8, 2021. At the peak of the Delta surge, the highest day’s new case count was 253 infections.

Derderian said the case counts in recent days were 107 new cases on Saturday; 61 confirmed and 4 probable new cases on Sunday; 105 confirmed and 3 probable new cases on Monday; and as of 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 66 confirmed and 15 probable new cases on Tuesday.

The city’s 7-day average number of new CIOVID-19 cases was 119.6 cases on Tuesday, up from just above 20 at the start of last week.

The most recently available Huntington Hospital COVID-19 caseload information from Monday showed a total of 39 admitted COVID-19-positive patients as of that afternoon. 13 were under ICU care. 79% of the total number of patients were unvaccinated.

The hospital said Tuesday in a statement that with Pasadena about to become the temporary home for hundreds of thousands of visitors attending the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl Game, officials are anticipating a possible influx of patients.

Tents have been set up to expand the capacity of the hospital’s emergency department, should the need arise, according to a hospital statement.

Emergency department volume along with wait times are expected to be higher than usual, the statement said.

Huntington Hospital is the only Level II trauma center in the San Gabriel Valley and operates the only emergency room in Pasadena.

Across Los Angeles County, for the first time since late September the number of people in Los Angeles County hospitals with COVID-19 has surpassed the 1,000 mark, echoing a sharp upward trend in infections and a dramatic increase in the rate of people testing positive for the virus.

According to state figures, there were 1,069 COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals as of Tuesday, up from 966 on Monday. Of those patients, 207 were being treated in intensive care, up from 200 a day earlier.

The increase is being closely watched by county public health officials concerned that hospitals — which expanded capacity to handle COVID patient numbers that topped 8,000 last January — are less equipped to cope with such an intense surge this winter due to various factors, most notably a drop in staffing.

The L.A. County increase in COVID hospitalizations has been rapid, jumping by 30% over the past week. One month ago, on Nov. 27, the state reported just 568 virus patients in the county.

Also rapidly rising is the rate of people testing positive for the virus. According to the county Department of Public Health, the seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus rose to 14.5% as of Tuesday. One week ago, the rate was 3%. On Nov. 22, it was 0.9%.

The sudden rapid spread of the virus is being blamed squarely on the Omicron variant of the virus, which experts say is easily spread from person to person. Even people fully vaccinated are susceptible to Omicron infection, although health officials say they are far less likely to become severely ill, wind up hospitalized or die. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said last week unvaccinated people are 21 times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated people.

The county reported another 9,473 new COVID infections Tuesday, bringing the cumulative pandemic total number of infections to 1,632,893.

Another 22 virus-related deaths were also reported, raising the county’s death toll to 27,576.

Officials have said about 90% of the COVID deaths during the pandemic occurred in people who had underlying health conditions. The most common conditions are hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

“… While we all wish that 2022 would begin without the continued tragedy of serious illness and death associated with COVID, we are instead facing the prospect of an alarming surge that requires every person to act with intentionality: get vaccinated and boosted, get tested, and please, always wear a mask around others,” Ferrer said in a statement Tuesday. “These are the tools we have to try to keep each other safe over the holidays.”

Ferrer said last week the county was not immediately contemplating any renewed health restrictions in response to the latest virus surge, although she said everything remains on the table depending on the trajectory of the infections and the more critical impact on the hospital system.

The health department announced Friday that it was expanding access to free COVID testing amid greater demand around the holidays.

The changes include:

• Extended hours of operation at sites across Los Angeles County;

• Additional week and weekend dates;

• Additional mobile testing units in hard-hit areas;

• Re-launch of Holiday Home Test Collection Program with new guidelines to reach more people and make it easier to get tested. The link is at https://covid19.lacounty.gov/hometest.

Any county resident who is symptomatic or believes they were exposed to COVID-19 can order a home testing kit, which require swab collection to be mailed back for PCR test result.