With a COVID positivity rate of 16.7%, Tangipahoa Parish is making headlines for all the wrong reasons, ranking as the second highest county/parish in the nation in terms of hospitalizations per capita, according to the New York Times tracker map.
The tally for Saturday through Monday included 416 new cases and seven deaths.
Listen to your favorite News/Talk station now on Audacy.
Michelle Sutton, CEO of the parish’s main hospital North Oaks Health System, told WWL-TV that she brought her concerns straight to the Governor John Bel Edwards.
“This morning we had a 24 year old die of COVID, unvaccinated. It was preventable and in the last two weeks, we've had 14 deaths – most between 24-and-55 years old,” Sutton said.
North Oaks currently has 89 patients admitted for COVID with more lining up.
“I had 13 patients in the ER waiting for a bed, 10 of which were COVID positive,” Sutton said.
The virus is making its way through the hospital’s staff as well. Sutton reported that only 43% of the employees at North Oaks have gotten fully vaccinated, and 62 employees are currently out sick due to the coronavirus.
That means that while the hospital has 330 beds technically available for patients, there’s only enough staff to safely manage 200 of them.
“Our staff is demoralized because they believe this surge was preventable,” Sutton said.
Currently, Tangipahoa’s vaccination rate sits at 30.48%, below the statewide total of 37%.
