COVID hospitalizations in Louisiana doubled this week

The Louisiana Department of Health reports that 449 people in Louisiana are hospitalized with COVID-19 – a figure that doubled last week.

The last time LDH reported these numerous COVID-19 hospitalizations was in mid-October, as the state recovered from the third and worst COVID-19 outbreak at the time. Eighty percent of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are not fully vaccinated, according to LDH officials.

A total of 9,545 new cases of COVID-19 out of 59,139 new tests have been reported to the state since December 23. Test data does not include home test results. The Louisiana Department of Health will resume updating the COVID-19 dashboard on Monday, December 27.

Another 1,231 people in Louisiana were re-infected with COVID-19 during the same period. LDH does not include re-infections on its dashboard. Information is still emerging, but Omicron includes multiple mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Emerging data shows that this new variant is more transmissible than previous strains and that Omicron may carry an increased risk of reinfection compared to other variants of concern, according to LDH officials.

Current vaccines are expected to protect against serious illness, hospitalization and death due to infection with the Omicron variant. However, breakthrough infections in people who have been fully vaccinated are likely to occur. Omicron’s surge further underscores the importance of vaccination and boosters, according to LDH officials.

In light of this rapidly changing situation and because we know families can travel and get together before New Years Eve, LDH urges everyone to follow public health advice to stay safe:

• To reduce transmission, regardless of vaccination status, hide in all indoor public spaces; mask in all interior private spaces with people who are not part of your immediate household; and hide outside when you can’t get away socially. The masks effectively protect against infection from all variants currently in circulation.

• Remote work if possible.

• Limit exposure to people outside your daily household.

• Get tested for COVID-19 before and after traveling or meeting with people outside your daily household. LDH recommends testing one to two days before travel and three to five days after travel.

If you have questions about vaccines, you can speak with a healthcare professional and find out more about vaccination sites near you by calling the Louisiana Vaccine Hotline at 855-453-0774. For a list of locations near you, visit https://ldh.la.gov/covidvaccine [r20.rs6.net] or send your postal code by SMS to GETVAX (438829) in English or to VACUNA (822862) in Spanish.