GET VACCINATED! It is the best way to combat the spread of COVID-19 and ensure your health adn safety and that of your loed ones, friends, colleagues and co-workers, neighbors and all of us.
COVID Relief Grants: CalOSBA-Open: September 9, 2021 - September 30, 2021-Eligible applicants: current waitlisted applicants from certain previous rounds and new applicants that meet eligibility criteria found at CAReliefGrant.com
Eligible grant award: $5,000 – $25,000. Details: Applicants not selected to move forward in the review process in Rounds 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7 do not need to re-apply and will be automatically moved into Round 9. New applicants will need to apply at CAReliefGrant.com . Click Here to Learn More
Cases: Two additional COVID-19 deaths were reported in Pasadena on Thursday, marking four fatalities since Saturday, officials said.
The two new victims were described as a man in his 40s who died earlier this week and a woman in her late-80s who succumbed to the virus last month but was only recently confirmed as a COVID-19 fatality, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
The woman was not vaccinated, Derderian said. The vaccination status of the man was not known.
The somber announcement followed two more deaths reported by the Pasadena Public Health Department on Saturday. Both victims were described as unvaccinated.The new fatalities raised Pasadena’s pandemic death toll to 358. Prior to Saturday, the last COVID-19 fatality in the city was reported on Aug. 13.
Health officials detected 18 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 12,909, according to PPHD data. The average number of infections reported in Pasadena each day over the prior week also stood at 18.
Data released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health indicated 64.1% of school-age residents residing in Pasadena Unified School District’s jurisdiction and who are eligible for vaccination — those between 12 and 18 — had received at least one vaccine dose.
On the whole, PPHD records show 93.4% of city residents of all ages have received at least a single shot.
Among local residents 65 and older, city data showed 99.9% had received at least one dose.
L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer also noted Thursday that the trend seems to indicate that the older a person is the more likely they are to be vaccinated. Immunization among the eligible is the best tool to prevent infection not only to themselves, but among those not eligible for vaccination, she said.
Meanwhile, county officials reported 2,218 new infections and 49 deaths on Thursday, bringing the totals to 1,425,806 confirmed COVID- cases and 25,563 fatalities.
According to the L.A. County Department of Public Health, 1,385 patients were hospitalized with the virus throughout the county, with 30% of them being treated in intensive care units. The number represented a decrease of 288 hospitalizations compared with a week prior. Thursday’s countywide test positivity rate was measured at 3.4%. As of Thursday, L.A. County accounted for 33% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 39% of the state’s related deaths.
The California Department of Public Health reported 7,127 new infections and 201 deaths on Thursday, bringing the pandemic totals to 4,322,361 cases of the virus and 66,257 fatalities. The state’s weekly positivity rate increased by 0.2% over Wednesday to 4.5%, according to CDPH data.
The number of coronavirus patients in Los Angeles County hospitals fell by nearly 100 on Saturday the 12th consecutive day that the total has declined. There were 1,226 hospitalized COVID patients in county hospitals as of Saturday, down from 1,321 the previous day, according to state figures. The number of those patients in intensive care dropped from 387 to 368.
Officials also said Los Angeles County has seen three consecutive weeks of decline in its weekly infection rate, an improvement the public health director attributed in part to mask mandates and slowly rising vaccination numbers. Under benchmarks set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transmission is considered in the “high” category if there are cumulatively 100 or more new cases per 100,000 residents over the course of a week. Much of the country is currently in the “high” transmission category. Los Angeles County’s rate, however, fell this week to 104 cases per 100,000, a “welcome” 35% drop from last week, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.
The Economy: From the Pasadena Star-News: U.S. economic activity “downshifted” in July and August due to rising concerns about COVID- 19’s delta variant, as well as supply chain problems and labor shortages, the Federal Reserve’s latest survey of the nation’s business conditions revealed. The Fed survey, released Wednesday, said the slowdown was largely attributable to a pullback in dining out, travel and tourism in most parts of the country, reflecting concerns about the spread of the delta variant.
The Fed also said some sectors of the economy had been constrained by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages. It noted particular weakness in auto sales attributed to low inventories caused by a shortage of computer chips.
“Economic growth downshifted slightly to a moderate pace in early July through August,” the report, known as the Beige Book, said. It was based on interviews done by the Fed’s 12 regional banks and completed by Aug. 30. It will be used in discussions when Fed officials hold their next interest rate meeting on Sept. 21-22.'There had been an expectation that Fed officials could announce at this month’s meeting plans to start reducing the central bank’s $120 billion monthly bond purchases, which are being made to help lower long-term interest rates. However, analysts now say that is less likely given last Friday’s disappointing jobs report. The report showed the economy creating only 235,000 jobs in August, after gains averaging around 1 million per month in June and July. The jobs decline was also attributed to a sharp rise in COVID- 19 cases.
Unemployment: California workers filed 61,900 initial claims for unemployment during the week ending Sept. 4, up 5,600 from the 56,300 workers who filed such jobless claims the week before, the U.S, Labor Department reported Thursday.
The increase in claims halted a stretch of improvement for California during which jobless filings decreased for three weeks in a row.
The latest filings are 38% higher than what they averaged during January 2020 and February 2020, when jobless claims averaged 44,800 a week.
Last week, 310,000 workers nationwide filed initial claims for unemployment, a decrease of 35,000 from the 345,000 claims filed the week before. Those numbers were adjusted by the Labor Department for seasonal variations.
The pace of U.S. hiring has weakened. Last week, the government reported that hiring slowed dramatically in August, with employers adding just 235,000 jobs after having added roughly a million in both June and July. Hiring plummeted in industries that require face-to-face contact with the public, notably restaurants, hotels and retail. Still, some jobs were added in other areas, and the unemployment rate actually dropped to 5.2% from 5.4%.
Last week, more than 8 million people lost all their unemployment benefits with the expiration of two federal programs that covered gig workers and people who have been jobless for more than six months. Those emergency programs were created in March 2020, when the pandemic first tore through the economy.