Cases: Pasadena Reported 36 new cases and no fatalities from COVD-19 on Thursday. 

2,200 new COVID cases logged in LA County, with 8 more deaths. According to state figures, there were 666 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, up from 648 on Thursday. Of those patients, 74 were being treated in intensive care, down from 77 the previous day.

Los Angeles County continued reporting inflated numbers of COVID-19 cases on Friday, Nov. 18, with more than 2,200 new cases logged, along with eight more virus-related deaths.

The 2,249 new cases reported Friday gave the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 3,515,225. The eight new deaths lifted the county’s virus-related death toll to 34,098.

According to state figures, there were 666 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, up from 648 on Thursday. Of those patients, 74 were being treated in intensive care, down from 77 the previous day.

Health officials have said previously that roughly 40% of the patients were actually admitted for COVID-related issues, while the rest were admitted for other reasons but tested positive at the hospital.

The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus in the county was 6.8% as of Friday.

The county has been seeing steadily rising case and hospitalization numbers since the beginning of November, prompting health officials on Thursday to announce that they are again “strongly recommending” that people wear masks at indoor public settings.

The recommendation falls short of a masking mandate, but masks are still required indoors at health-care and congregate-care facilities, for anyone exposed to the virus in the past 10 days, and at locations where they are required by the operator, county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said Thursday.

For the past few months, indoor masking has been a matter of personal preference, unless individual businesses or locations chose to require them. The county shifted back to “strongly recommending” indoor mask wearing on Thursday when the local seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 infections rose to 100 per 100,000 residents, up from 86 per 100,000 a week ago. The rate the previous week was 65 per 100,000 residents.

The increasing case rate mirrored steady rises seen in daily reported case numbers and hospitalizations since the beginning of November.

Davis said the county is currently reporting about 1,500 new cases per day, up from 1,300 per day a week ago and up 52% since Nov. 1. He noted that the reported cases only represent a portion of actual infections occurring in the county, since many residents rely on at-home tests that are not reported to health officials, while many more don’t get tested at all.

Average daily COVID-related hospital admissions are averaging 97 per day, up 26% from 77 per day last week, and a 54% jump since Nov. 1, Davis said.

Daily reported virus-related deaths remain relatively low, at about eight per day, but Davis said with the increases in case rates and hospitalizations, that number could begin to climb.

Health officials have been warning of a third straight winter surge of COVID-19 cases, noting the increased risk of transmission as people spend more time indoors due to colder weather and the winter holidays. Davis on Thursday also noted the continued threat of new variants emerging that can spread more rapidly from person to person, even those who are vaccinated.

Vaccines: from Los Angeles County Department of Public Health: Information on COVID-19 Booster Facts. Spanish translation is pending. You will find details on Boosting your protection against severe COVID-19, Getting a Booster dose if it has been at Least 2 months since your last dose, and Getting the Booster even if you have already been infected with COVID-19. 

BoosterFacts.pdf

Please see our Vaccine FAQ Resources webpage for more information.

Other pertinent information and resources can be found on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health website at http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/

Thank you for your ongoing efforts to protect the health and well-being of Los Angeles County residents.

From the New York Times: Operation Warp Speed, the Trump-era program that poured billions of dollars into developing Covid shots, seemed to signal a new dawn of American vaccine making, demonstrating how decades of scientific grunt work could be turned into lifesaving medicine in a matter of months.

But as a third pandemic winter begins in the United States, its vaccine-making effort has lost steam. Efforts to test and produce next-generation Covid vaccines are bogged down by bureaucratic problems and funding shortfalls. Foreign rivals have raced ahead in approving long-awaited nasal-spray vaccines, including one invented in St. Louis, creating a scenario in which Americans would have to travel abroad for the latest in American vaccine technology.

The Biden administration has launched a last-ditch effort to restore the country’s edge. In a bid to resurrect Operation Warp Speed, President Biden asked the lame-duck session of Congress this week for $5 billion for next-generation vaccines and therapeutics, as part of a broader $9.25 billion pandemic spending request. But Republicans, having blocked requests for next-generation vaccine funding since the spring amid complaints about how the White House spent earlier pandemic aid allocations, have shown no signs of dropping their resistance.

As a result, even with the pandemic still taking a heavy toll, prospects have dimmed for the two most coveted kinds of next-generation vaccines: nasal sprays that can block more infections, and universal coronavirus shots that can defend against a wider array of ever-evolving variants.

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The Economy: Economic warning signs are mounting in California — foreshadowing potentially tough budget decisions for the state officials and policymakers who emerge victorious from the Nov. 8 election.

One particularly eye-popping statistic: Just nine companies headquartered in the Golden State went public in the first three quarters of 2022, compared to 81 during the same period last year, according to a Bloomberg News analysis.

Bloomberg also found that: As of Sept. 30, initial public offerings in California had raised just $177 million, compared to an average of $16 billion during the same period over the past five years. The $177 million figure represents just 2% of funds generated by U.S. companies that went public through the end of September. Last year at this time, California accounted for 39% of funds nationally.

If this trend continues, it could spell an end to the streak California has maintained since 2003 of generating more IPOs than any other state.
“We are already seeing an immediate effect,” Brian Uhler, deputy legislative analyst for the state Legislative Analyst’s Office, told Bloomberg. “And it does appear to be significant,” contributing to a 5% decline in California employers’ income tax withholding payments in September compared to last year.

Indeed, California collected about $2.8 billion less in taxes in September than it thought it would, marking the third straight month of revenues coming in below projections, according to a report released this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Department of Finance.

From Jonathan Lansner for the Pasadena Seat-News: Southern California’s 8 million jobs sets new record-The joblessness rate was 4% in October, the same as in September.

The Southern California job market hit record employment in October, defying the efforts of the Federal Reserve to cool an overheated economy with steep interest rate hikes.

State job figures released Friday, found bosses in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties added 109,200 workers in October — the best month for hiring since February 2021. That put a total of 8 million at work in the region, up 360,300 in 12 months and topping the 7.953 million high of November 2019.

October also marks the first time Southern California jobs exceeded February 2020’s level, the last month before COVID-19 upended the economy. The statewide job market also became “fully recovered” in October, erasing what had been a loss of 2.6 million jobs when the pandemic locked down the economy.

October’s local hiring pace was faster than the average 30,025 workers added monthly in the past year. Record employment was set in October for the local transportation/warehouses, business services and healthcare/personal services industries.

Here’s how the job market performed in the region’s key metropolitan areas:

  • Los Angeles County: 4.61 million workers, 99.8% of February 2020 after adding 58,800 in a month and growing by 196,600 in a year. Unemployment? 4.5% – same as a month earlier; 6.2% a year ago; 4.3% in February 2020.
  • Orange County: 1.69 million workers, 100.5% of February 2020 after adding 22,800 in a month and growing by 77,600 in a year. Unemployment? 2.8% vs. 2.7% a month earlier; 4.1% a year ago; 2.8% in February 2020.
  • Inland Empire: record 1.69 million workers, 107% of February 2020 after adding 27,600 in a month and growing by 86,100 in a year. Unemployment? 3.9% – same as a month earlier; 5.4% a year ago; 3.9% in February 2020.

 

Uneven rebound: The pandemic era’s rebound in hiring has not been an even reversal, with large differences in employment recovery in key job niches. Look at four-county worker counts by key industries, ranked by size of pandemic-era recovery:

  • Transportation/warehouses: 123% of pre-coronavirus jobs at a record 468,900 workers. That’s up 88,300 from February 2020 after adding 10,500 last month.
  • Business services: 105% of pre-coronavirus jobs at a record 1,202,900 workers. That’s up 59,500 from February 2020 after adding 19,300 last month.
  • Healthcare, personal services: 105% of pre-coronavirus jobs at a record 1,225,600 workers. That’s up 58,200 from February 2020 after adding 15,700 last month.
  • Retailing: 102% of pre-virus employment at 750,800 workers. That’s up 12,600 from February 2020 after adding 12,200 last month.
  • Construction, real estate, finance: 101% of pre-pandemic staffing at 680,100 workers. That’s up 5,900 from February 2020 after adding 9,700 last month.
  • Restaurants: 99% of pre-pandemic jobs  at 676,700 workers. That’s down 4,000 from February 2020 after adding 1,300 last month.
  • Manufacturing: 97% of pre-virus employment at 576,500 workers. That’s down 19,900 from February 2020 after adding 1,700 last month.
  • Government: 95% of pre-pandemic staffing at 984,800 workers. That’s down 47,000 from February 2020 after adding 18,200 last month.
  • Arts, entertainment and recreation: 94% of pre-pandemic staffing at 165,000 workers. That’s down 9,900 from February 2020 after adding 4,700 last month.
  • Hotels: 82% of pre-virus employment at 79,000 workers. That’s down 17,900 from February 2020 after adding 1,100 last month.

 

California’s pandemic job losses fully recovered, but economic woes percolate-California has now had positive job growth for 13 consecutive months. 

California said Friday it had recovered all of the 2.7 million jobs it lost at the start of the pandemic, a moment that normally would celebrate the end of a downturn but instead was tempered by signs of a wobbly economy amid layoffs in the state’s historically strong tech industry.

The 56,700 new jobs California employers added in October was enough to push the state past the symbolic milestone, led by strong gains in the state’s health care, professional services and leisure and hospitality industries. California has now had positive job growth for 13 consecutive months.

From the New York Times: With the pandemic receding, children back in school and businesses telling employees to return to the office, the companies that own big office buildings were hoping to move on this fall from a nightmarish two years.

Instead, things got worse.

More office workers are back at their desks than a year ago, but attendance at office buildings in New York, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco and other cities is languishing well below prepandemic levels. As leases come up for renewal, companies are often opting for smaller offices, saddling landlords with millions of square feet in vacant space. And more space is expected to hit the market in the coming months as companies like Meta, Salesforce and Lyft lay off workers. More than 100,000 technology workers have lost their jobs this year, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks job cuts.

Higher interest rates are also weighing on the industry. Many landlords are no longer willing or able to acquire and spruce up older buildings or build new ones. Seeing little upside in holding on to sparsely occupied buildings and paying interest on mortgages, some landlords are handing over properties to lenders. Others are seeking to convert office buildings into residential complexes, though that can be expensive and take years.

Wall Street investors appear to think the office space sector is in for a deep slump. The shares of large landlords and developers are trading close to or below their pandemic lows, underperforming the broader stock market by a huge margin. Some bonds backed by office loans are showing signs of stress.

The value of U.S. office buildings could plunge 39 percent, or $454 billion, in the coming years, according to a recent study by business professors at Columbia and New York University.

Office vacancy rates across the country stand at a record 19.1 percent, with Chicago, Houston and San Francisco running above 20 percent, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate services company. That includes the record 185 million square feet, or 3.85 percent of total office space in the country, that is available for sublet. Another 104 million square feet will come onto the market through 2024 as new office buildings are completed, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

Office landlords made it through the pandemic in reasonable health because corporate tenants with long leases kept paying rent even if their employees weren’t coming into the office.

But the landlords, who typically flash sunny optimism even in dark days, are now sounding more cautious. They acknowledge that many corporate tenants are sticking with some form of work-from-home policy, and their bullishness is mostly focused on new buildings.

California mortgage-making takes record 63% dive-Soaring interest rates made most loans unaffordable. That’s the second-slowest slowest three months of the century. It’s also a stunning 63% nosedive from the year-ago period, making this the biggest 12-month drop on record.

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate tumbled by nearly a half-point this week, but will likely remain a significant barrier for potential homebuyers as Federal Reserve officials have all but promised more rate hikes in the coming months.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the key 30-year rate fell to 6.61% from 7.08% last week, the largest weekly drop since 1981. A year ago the average rate was 3.1%.

The rate for a 15-year mortgage, popular with those refinancing their homes, fell to 5.98% from 6.38% last week. It was 2.39% one year ago.

The UK’s rate of inflation hit a fresh 41-year high in October, accelerating to 11.1 per cent on the back of rising energy and food prices. Economists had expected a rate of 10.7 per cent.