It may not be long before Louisiana's medical infrastructure buckles under the weight of the coronavirus.
Calling the state’s latest surge in COVID cases a “real dire situation,” state health officer Dr. Joe Kanter told the Louisiana Board of Regents Tuesday that hospitals are closing in on their breaking points.
“I will say if we don’t peak within a week or two, it is going to be a catastrophic situation for hospitals,” Kanter said. “There is just no way to sustain that.”
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He also stated that a continued rise in cases could lead to the reimposition of restrictions that state residents had hoped would be a thing of the past.
“I would expect more aggressive mitigation measures to be considered if we do not peak within the one- or two-week timeframe,” Kanter said.
An indoor mask mandate was already reinstituted by Gov. John Bel Edwards for public spaces last week and will remain in place until at least September 1.
Kanter cited CDC numbers that showed the state is only a quarter of the way towards what is expected to be the peak of the current COVID surge. He also said hospitalization numbers in the state now sit at 2,720, an increase of nearly 700 patients over the previous COVID peak.
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