by Steven Felschundneff | steven@claremont-courier.com

After weeks of no new deaths, sadly public health is reporting that two people in Claremont have succumbed to COVID-19. One of the deaths occurred at Claremont Place Memory Care which is experiencing a small outbreak, with three staff and six residents testing positive. Pilgrim Place Independent Living center also has an outbreak with six confirmed cases.

Public health recorded 30 new infections in Claremont over the past three weeks, bringing the cumulative total 2,894. As of October 7, the city has finally crested the 70% mark of eligible residents receiving at least one dose of the vaccination, driven by the impressive 90.9% rate among our youth ages 12 to 17 and 95.7% for people 65 and older.

This week the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is reporting that a key metric, the positivity rate has dipped below 1%, indicating the recent surge fueled by the Delta variant is on the decline.

On Monday, public health officials recorded a daily positivity rate, based on the seven-day average of 0.8% compared with 3.8% in mid-August. The number of daily new cases has, however, plateaued at about 1,000, which may simply be a factor of increased screening as mandatory testing orders go into effect.

On Wednesday, public health reported 17 deaths and 1,005 new cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, bringing the cumulative total to 26,353 deaths and 1,473,410 cases. Among the new deaths, four were people over the age of 80, seven were between 65 and 79, two were 50 to 64 and four were 30 to 49.