Story by Adam Kwoh
News Editor
Photo by Oscar Walsh
Photo Editor
South Pasadena hit a total of 30 confirmed coronavirus cases in L.A.’s latest press release on Monday, Apr. 20. The number of confirmed cases in the city has grown rapidly, with South Pas facing 10 added cases within two days.
L.A. County has identified a total of 13,816 cases and 617 deaths to date. Although the number of cases has dramatically increased within the week, Public Health has affirmed that it should not cause panic amongst residents.
“As part of efforts to increase testing capacity in the county, many new labs responded to the emergency and are working with Public Health to ensure that they have the proper reporting systems in place,” Public Health Communications wrote. “Until this reporting issue is resolved, there may be periodic increases in positive cases and total cases due to unevenness in daily reporting.”
Public Health has also hypothesized that coronavirus infections are more widespread and have a much lower fatality rate than reported based on preliminary results of a scientific study with USC.
With the possibility of the coronavirus being much more widespread than previously thought, Public Health continues to mandate that residents stay at home and wear masks when shopping at local businesses.
“As we plan for our recovery, we are mindful that COVID-19 is a highly infectious virus and we all must continue to do our part to slow the spread,” L.A. Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said. “This means keeping our distance at all times, isolation when ill and quarantining if we have been in contact with someone positive for COVID-19.”
This is an ongoing story. All local coronavirus updates can be found here.
