Louisiana Hits Third-Highest Number Of COVID-19 Cases Reported In A Day – WWNO

Louisiana has recorded the third-highest day of new COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

A total of 5,388 cases were reported to the Louisiana Department of Health between July 20 and July 21. The total number of cases in the state is now 506,882.

Nearly all, 99 percent, were collected between July 13 and July 20, meaning the cases represent the current surge of COVID-19 sweeping the state, driven at least in part by the more contagious Delta variant.

The majority of cases were among people 18 to 39 years old.

Hospitalizations also jumped in the state to 844, up 65 in a day. Another 9 people with COVID-19 are on ventilators, bringing that total to 64. Through April, May and June, hospitalizations had hovered at around 300, before rising sharply since the beginning of July.

The figures are only the latest in a near-daily barrage of bad news from the health department as it tracks this fourth wave of the pandemic in Louisiana.

Baton Rouge General Hospital reported its own worrying figures today. The hospital now has 54 COVID patients, up 21 from Monday. It said 40 percent are under 50 years old, and the average stay in hospital for patients in their 20s is nine days.

Of those patients, 95 percent were unvaccinated.

Louisiana remains one of the lowest-vaccinated states in the country, with only about 50 percent of adults at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

See the original post here:

Louisiana Hits Third-Highest Number Of COVID-19 Cases Reported In A Day - WWNO