The Omicron surge continues to burn through Louisiana, with another 14,932 cases reported today along with another jump in hospitalizations, now up to 2,081. Most concerning? The number of those patients who are kids.
“We have more children in the hospital than we have had at any point because of COVID,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said during a Thursday news conference.
Edwards called for a return to the personal behaviors that have proven effective at slowing COVID in the past, but again decided not to reinstate a state-wide mask mandate.
“In every single community the disease burden is higher than it has ever been and quite frankly our hospitals are filling up, too many staff members are not available for the hospitals,” said Edwards.
The Louisiana Department of Health is also reporting new information on people who’ve had COVID, and test positive again more than 90 days after their previous infection. 35,819 total reinfections have been noted since the start of the pandemic, but 2,384 were reported on Tuesday alone, suggesting a large chunk of new infections are reinfections.
“You can’t rely on the natural immunity conferred by a previous bout with COVID-19 to continue to protect you over time,” said Edwards.
