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Memorial Pays Tribute to Burbank COVID-19 Victims

Photo courtesy Marcos Lutyens
Burbank Tournament of Roses Association members Robin Hanna and Judith Miller attach felt roses to a fish net for a Rose River Memorial exhibit, which honors those killed by COVID-19. A local memorial with more than 240 such roses will come to City Hall for a week starting on Monday.

When Marcos Lutyens started making felt roses in honor of the Americans who had died from COVID-19, the death toll was at about 180,000 people. He thought — he hoped — that he’d have to make about 200,000. He was wrong.

As of this month, the coronavirus has killed about 600,000 people in the United States — including more than 240 Burbank residents.

“It just got worse and worse,” Lutyens said. “But at the same time, as it got worse, the community response got stronger and stronger.”

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Local Businesses Receive Millions in State COVID-19 Grants

Photo by Christian Leonard / Burbank Leader
David and Theresa Hanna have owned local gift store Bell Cottage for nearly 14 years. The Magnolia Park business received a COVID-19 relief grant from the state in April — a much-needed boost during the pandemic.

A California program for small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic has given more than $5 million in grants to Burbank companies and contractors, recently released data shows.

More than 450 Burbank small businesses — including nonprofits, sole proprietorships and independent contractors — that grossed between $1,000 and $2.5 million in the 2019 tax year received grants from the state’s COVID-19 Small Business Relief Grant program, which was announced in early December.

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Residents Reach 60% Vaccination Rate, But Shots Slowing

A graph of the number of daily vaccinations in burbank

Just over 60% of Burbank’s residents had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination as of this week, but county data shows a recent drop in the number of daily shots being administered.

At least 54,100 residents, or 60.4% of the local population 16 years old or older, have had at least one coronavirus vaccine dose as of Sunday, according to data from the Los Angeles County Public Health Department. That total includes the roughly 12,600 first doses administered to the city’s population ages 65 and older — 77.7% of that age group.

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LCF Hits 70% Vaccine Rate as Reopening Broadens

La Cañada Flintridge has one of the highest vaccination rates in the county with 70% of residents 16 and older having received at least one dose of the vaccine as of April 30.
As of Monday, L.A. County has administered more than 8 million doses of the vaccine and 37% of residents are fully inoculated, according to the the Department of Public Health.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County, what was once the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with alarmingly high numbers of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, will officially enter the least restrictive tier of the state’s reopening system called the blueprint for a safer economy. The yellow tier, indicating minimal spread of the coronavirus, will allow bars that do not serve food to provide indoor service at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer, and other businesses to increase capacity with health modifications.
Restaurants, gyms, breweries, wineries and movie theaters can expand capacity to 50% and amusement parks can increase capacity to 35%. Restrictions will be eased for events and large gatherings such as conferences, meetings and receptions.
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Positive COVID Tests Cancel Spartans’ Final Game

Photo by Eric Danielson / OUTLOOK VALLEY SUN
The La Cañada varsity football team’s final game of the season was canceled due to positive coronavirus tests last week. The Spartans finished with an overall record of 3-1.

One positive COVID-19 test can quickly alter a school’s plans as well as disrupt sports activities, as La Cañada High School administrators and coaches learned last week.
In accordance with Los Angeles County Department of Public Health guidelines, the school canceled what was supposed to be the varsity football team’s final game of the season against Monrovia, after four people, including one student, tested positive for the coronavirus.
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J&J Vaccine Pause Halts Local Home Delivery Program

Photo courtesy Glendale Fire Department
A local firefighter works with a senior living facility resident who is about to receive a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The program is now paused after national health authorities are investigating a handful of blot clotting incidents from the vaccine.

The national pause on using the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19 has brought the city’s home-vaccination program to a halt this week.
Once the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health aligned itself with the Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration — the two organizations announced this week they are reviewing use of the vaccine after a small number of incidents — that forced the Glendale Fire Department’s hand. Fire Chief Silvio Lanzas said he and their partner, Glendale Memorial Hospital, have to follow the health department’s direction.
“We hope to bring the program back, but we’re just unsure what happens with the Johnson & Johnson vaccines,” he said this week.

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Nitros No Match for Burbank

By Austin Green
Glendale News-Press

Photo by Austin Green / Glendale News-Press
Glendale High School’s Michael Baghdasaryan gets ready to serve during the Nitros’ tennis match against Burbank on Wednesday.

Thirteen months after their 2020 season was cut short due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Burbank High School boys’ tennis defeated host Glendale High, 17-1, on Wednesday in the season opener for both teams.
Glendale entered the match shorthanded, with two of their players unable to attend. That left the Nitros without a third doubles tandem, forcing them to forfeit three sets to Burbank before play even began.

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10,000 COVID Vaccinations Weekly is Goal

Photo by Keira Wight / Glendale News-Press
Glendale Community College President David Viar, Adventist Health President Alice Issai, Mayor Paula Devine and Fire Chief Silvio Lanzas are having their respective organizations collaborate to make COVID-19 vaccinations readily available to local residents at the GCC parking structure.

The Jewel City is now home to one of Los Angeles County’s coveted mass COVID-19 vaccination sites, which officially kicks off tomorrow and is available to all eligible county residents.
Those residents will be able to register for appointments from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, at the Glendale Community Collegeparking structure off Mountain Street. Patients can either park and walk up to the clinic or get dropped off there. The clinic will not take walk-in appointments and patients will have to register through the state system, at myturn.ca.gov.
The long-awaited Jewel City Vax Clinic is being run as a collaboration between the city and its police and fire departments, GCC and Adventist Health Glendale. It is being funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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Burbank Residents Reach 31% Vaccination Rate

Burbank residents will soon see more of the normality they were used to before the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year.
The L.A. Department of Public Health announced on Tuesday that the county has met the threshold for the orange tier — indicating moderate infection of the coronavirus — of the state’s blueprint for a safer economy. The next-to-lowest tier loosens restrictions on businesses and allows theme parks to open. The new health order will go into effect this coming Monday, April 5.
“After a year of fear, anxiety and tragic loss, we’re seeing glimmers of hope once more,” County Supervisor Hilda Solis said in a virtual update on Tuesday. “But this didn’t happen just by accident. This was because of our collective hard work.”

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