by Steven Felschundneff | steven@claremont-courier.com
Two more Claremont resident have died from COVID-19, making October the deadliest in several months with a total of six fatalities.

Following the winter surge last year, coronavirus deaths in Claremont peaked at 60 in the beginning of May and did not change until two people succumbed to their infections during the summer surge. During that same time the county revised its previous count for the city, reducing it by one, which brought the cumulative total to 61 as of August, where it stayed until the second week of October. As of Wednesday, the county is reporting 67 cumulative deaths, 22 new infections and 2,939 total cases.

It’s not clear what is driving the rise, however, death is a lagging indicator of a local outbreak, because sadly, it takes some people a very long time to die from COVID-19. The county is reporting three deaths at Claremont Place’s memory care unit.

Claremont’s vaccination rate continues to creep up, reaching 71% as of October 21, according to data collected by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. As reported in the past, well over 90% of our youth and seniors over age 65 are vaccinated, so it is working-age adults who are holding the city back.

Public health continues to work with skilled nursing facilities to ensure their eligible residents and staff receive COVID boosters. Beginning this week, skilled nursing facilities will be surveyed weekly to collect information on implementation of strategies to ensure eligible residents can receive booster doses. Public health officials are working to address any barriers in requesting, receiving and administering boosters. The department will deploy mobile vaccine teams to assist any skilled nursing facility requiring help, according to a news release from L.A. County Public Health.

On Wednesday, the county confirmed 11 deaths and 909 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the cumulative totals to 26,578 deaths and 1,487,502 cases. One person who died was over the age of 80, four were between 65 and 79, four were between 50 and 64, and one was between 30 and 49. There are 650 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized 28% of whom are in ICU.