Journal Staff Report
The Louisiana Department of Health has announced that 449 people in Louisiana are hospitalized with COVID-19 – a figure that has doubled in the last week. According to LDH, 80 percent of those people are not fully vaccinated.
A total of 9,545 new COVID-19 cases out of 59,139 new tests have been reported to the state since December 23. The testing data does not include results from at-home tests.
Another 1,231 people in Louisiana have been reinfected with COVID-19 in the same time frame.
Omicron includes multiple mutations across the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Emerging data show 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.
Angie Greer, Director of Webster Parish Health Unit, said they test for COVID at the health unit.
“We don’t keep stats on how many we test per week or how many test positive,” Greer said. “And we test only for positive and negative results, not which variant.”
Greer said if a patient tests positive, they are immediately referred to their personal physician for treatment options.
With New Year’s Eve on the horizon and families gather again, LDH is urging everyone to follow public health guidance to stay safe and follow protocol.
Due to limited state supplies and distribution, Minden Medical Center posts online that their supply of Regeneron Antibody Infusion is depleted and infusion doses cannot be scheduled at this time.
For statistics on cases at Minden Medical Center and Springhill Medical Center, follow the Webster Parish Journal.
