Louisiana - Several New Orleans area hospitals suspend non-essential surgeries as COVID cases climb

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Several New Orleans area hospitals suspend non-essential surgeries as COVID cases climb
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Author: WWL Staff
Published: 4:13 PM CDT July 26, 2021
Updated: 9:31 AM CDT July 27, 2021

NEW ORLEANS — LCMC Health will suspend non-essential surgeries and procedures that could result in an overnight stay starting Thursday due to the increase in the number of COVID hospitalizations.
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The increase in COVID hospitalizations has started once again filling up rooms in hospitals as the delta variant and a low vaccination rate are factoring into the spread.
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The announcement comes after a similar one issued by Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge.
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Louisiana saw a jump of more than 7,500 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, according to new data released Monday by the Louisiana Department of Health.
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https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/several-new-orleans-area-hospitals-to-suspend-non-essential-surgeries-as-covid-cases-climb/289-634150c4-40cd-4bac-935c-2b5346db34e3

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As COVID surge escalates in Louisiana, hospitals shut down elective surgeries: 'No room at our inn'

BY EMILY WOODRUFF | STAFF WRITER PUBLISHED JUL 26, 2021 AT 5:30 PM | UPDATED JUL 26, 2021 AT 8:22 PM

Louisiana’s ongoing surge of COVID continued to escalate over the weekend, with an additional 6,225 cases reported since Friday, marking one of the largest increases in case counts since the pandemic began. Though vaccinations are also increasing, it’s not enough to stem the flood of patients into hospitals, according to weary health care workers now well into their fourth surge in the past 18 months.

“It’s so fast we can’t really grasp it,” said Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge and associate professor at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. “I don’t know where we’ll be in three days, but I’m afraid we’ll reach crisis standards of care if we don’t make some changes quickly.”

Hospitals request crisis standards from the state when there are not enough resources — including staff — to care for patients. The last seven days saw a total of 15,282 cases, a weekly average higher than any other time except the first few weeks of January.
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“We’re seeing our admissions at rates we saw in that winter time frame,” said Dr. Julio Figueroa, chief of infectious diseases at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. “The major difference between now and winter is that we’re seeing a lot more younger people, and younger people in the ICUs with severe disease.”

“Those younger people are also dying,” said Figueroa. “The vast majority of those individuals are unvaccinated.”
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Staff writers Jeff Adelson, Marie Fazio and Sara Pagones contributed to this report.

https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_bb29717a-ee58-11eb-b849-a71602cfa387.html

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Louisiana sees largest spike in COVID hospitalizations since March 2020
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Author: WWL Staff
Published: 12:20 PM CDT July 27, 2021
Updated: 12:45 PM CDT July 27, 2021

NEW ORLEANS —
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The Louisiana Department of Health reported 6,797 new cases and 20 deaths due to COVID-19 on Tuesday. There were 169 more patients hospitalized with COVID-19 than on Monday, bringing the total hospitalizations across the state to 1,390.
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Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased more than 530% from the 259 reported on July 1, just nearly four weeks ago. The dramatic surge in hospitalizations has prompted several hospitals across the state, including in the New Orleans area, to suspend non-essential surgeries that could result in overnight stays.

Beau Tidwell, a spokesperson for the New Orleans mayor's office, said that hospitals are being overwhelmed with people waiting in emergency rooms.

"Hospitals are literally turning people away," Beau Tidwell, a spokesperson for the New Orleans mayor's office said. "They have limited resources and are being stretched.

"You could be waiting in an inpatient bed hours, if not days, at this point," he added.
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https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/louisiana-largest-spike-covid-hospitalizations-since-march-2020/289-2969b7c5-8afe-46b4-ac3e-3fac54de9045

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Louisiana COVID numbers: Cases up by thousands, hospitalizations reach 1,620

STAFF REPORT PUBLISHED JUL 29, 2021 AT 12:00 PM | UPDATED JUL 29, 2021 AT 12:06 PM
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Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Louisiana continued to spike, with 1,620 people now in beds across the state, the Louisiana Department of Health reported Thursday. It is the highest number of people hospitalized statewide since Jan. 26.

New cases continued to grow by the thousands, with 3,216 more confirmed coronavirus cases. Another 1,198 new probable cases were also reported.
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Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge received 30 new coronavirus patients on Wednesday, an all-time high single-day admission rate for Louisiana's largest standalone hospital.
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https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_6db7642a-efb5-11eb-a394-23b623e880c0.html

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Children's Hospital reports spike in COVID hospitalizations, death of patient
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BY EMILY WOODRUFF | STAFF WRITER PUBLISHED JUL 29, 2021 AT 11:30 AM | UPDATED JUL 29, 2021 AT 12:47 PM

As the fourth wave of COVID-19 continues to inundate Louisiana hospitals, pediatric facilities have also seen a swift rise in the number of patients. One pediatric patient has died during the most recent surge and there were 17 hospitalized at Children's Hospital New Orleans Thursday morning -- the most the hospital has seen during the pandemic, according to hospital officials.

"There's a higher number of patients who require hospitalization compared to any other time during the pandemic," said Dr. Leron Finger, a pediatric critical care physician at Children's. "Talking to my colleagues in Baton Rouge and Shreveport, they've also seen the same number."
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https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_3fc319c4-efbf-11eb-8518-1b58f818df8b.html

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Gov. Edwards 'seriously considering' reinstating statewide mask mandate

Louisiana's mask mandate could return soon.

Author: WWL Staff
Published: 2:13 PM CDT July 30, 2021
Updated: 4:03 PM CDT July 30, 2021

NEW ORLEANS —...
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"In light of the trends and developments, I can tell you I have received, over the last 24 hours or so, numerous requests from hospitals and healthcare organizations and other entities to reinstate a statewide mask mandate," Edwards said. "This is something that I am seriously considering."

Hospitalizations have skyrocketed across Louisiana since July 1. There are 1,456 more people in the hospital with COVID-19 than there were at the start of the month. On Thursday, July 29, there were more patients hospitalized on the Northshore than at any other point in the pandemic.

During the same time frame, 251 people have died because of the virus. At the start of the month, Louisiana was reporting on average about six new deaths each day. Now, the state is reporting on average 14 deaths daily.
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https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/july-30-covid-update-from-louisiana-john-bel-edwards/289-3b4deaec-083d-4eeb-96f0-aec848a9495d

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'Delta is a game changer': State epidemiologist says to mask up, regardless of vaccination status

WDSU
Updated: 8:22 AM CDT Jul 31, 2021

NEW ORLEANS —

State Epidemiologist Theresa Sokol said the delta variant is different when it comes to breakthrough infections, which is when vaccinated people contract COVID-19. As a result, she is encouraging everyone to mask up again.

"Delta is a game changer," Sokol said.
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"We're now recommending that everyone mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status, and that everyone who is exposed be tested after exposure regardless of vaccination status. And those are the two big changes," Sokol said.

Data from the Louisiana Department of Health shows a 60% increase in breakthrough cases from the most recent week's worth of data. Through July 21 in Louisiana, there was a total of 4,737 breakthrough infections, including 1,800 new breakthrough infections from July 15-21.
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Asked if a vaccinated person with COVID-19 can spread the virus as easily as an unvaccinated person, Sokol said while the data is still emerging, "Some of the preliminary studies that I have seen so far indicate that that might be the case."
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https://www.wdsu.com/article/best-places-to-buy-glasses-online/32958653

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Louisiana hospital brings in outside help for virus surge

By STACEY PLAISANCE
an hour ago

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — One of Louisiana’s largest hospitals brought in nearly three dozen health care workers from across the country Monday to help treat the ever-increasing number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, as the highly contagious delta variant ravages the state.
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Louisiana reported 11,109 new cases since Friday, with 27 more deaths. The number of hospitalized climbed to 1,984 — seven times the number of COVID-19 patients a month ago. The total number of deaths since the pandemic started in early 2020 surpassed 11,000 in Monday’s newest figures.
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https://apnews.com/article/health-louisiana-coronavirus-pandemic-fdb8c5c53c4162c934fb21cf3bd366b0

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Gov. Edwards reissues mask mandate in Louisiana
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WDSU
Updated: 2:39 PM CDT Aug 2, 2021

Gov. John Bel Edwards held a news conference Monday to address the spread of the delta variant in Louisiana.

11,026 deaths have been reported in Louisiana since the start of the pandemic, with 28 deaths on Monday.

As a result, Edwards has reissued the mask mandate for the state effective Wednesday, Aug. 4.

"The delta variant is a game changer, and at this point, it's not whether we vaccinate or mask, we have to do both," Edwards said.

Over the past month, cases have increased by over 900%.

Dr. Joseph Kanter said 13.2% of COVID-19 tests are positive, the most since Jan. 6.
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https://www.wdsu.com/article/lady-gaga-is-dressed-to-kill-in-the-first-trailer-for-house-of-gucci/37192430

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Facing record caseloads, Louisiana hospitals plead for workers: 'We just don't have the people'

BY BLAKE PATERSON, EMILY WOODRUFF & JEFF ADELSON | Staff writers AUG 3, 2021 - 5:45 PM Comments
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“It’s not the physical space,” said Dr. Kyle Happel, a pulmonary critical care doctor and professor at LSU Health Sciences Center. “We just don’t have the people to staff it. Unless we can get influxes of providers from areas that are highly vaccinated where they’re just not seeing the surge, I don’t know what we’re going to do. You can’t just make nurses.”
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Louisiana forwarded the staffing requests to the federal government last week, and on Monday, Washington responded by dispatching a 33-member disaster support team to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

While grateful for the help, state officials — who requested nearly 1,700 reinforcements — are under no illusion that the federal government will be able to fill in all the gaps.
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Nineteen of the 46 hospitals had canceled elective procedures. Eight had opened alternate locations, and 14 reported patients spilling over into places such as hallways and cafeterias.
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“When you come inside our walls, it is quite obvious to you that these are the darkest days of this pandemic,” said Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. “We are no longer giving adequate care to patients.”
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“Our hospitals are full. Our staff are tired. We have beds, but we don’t have doctors and nurses and people to care for these patients,” said Dr. Sandra Kemmerly, Ochsner’s medical director of hospital quality, at Monday’s press conference.

And the fear is that shrinking staff and an avalanche of patients will lead to triaging care: deciding who gets precious resources like drugs in short supply, machines to deliver oxygen, respiratory therapists to adjust ventilators and nurses to monitor dialysis machines.

“I would like to think that we will never be put in a situation of having to deny someone life-sustaining care, but I don’t know that we can say that won’t happen,” said Happel.
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https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/coronavirus/article_148819ce-f4a8-11eb-ada4-9fcd314d97aa.html

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Gov. Edwards asks federal government to send medical strike teams to help respond to COVID-19 surge

Updated: 1:59 PM CDT Aug 6, 2021

Morgan Lentes
Anchor
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Edwards announced that Louisiana continues to have the highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita in the United States. The next closest state for cases per capita is Florida, according to Edwards.

Edwards said he has asked the federal government for medical strike teams to help the state respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said even with the medical strike teams, due to the increase in patients and nursing shortage that the resources still won't be enough to respond to the surge.

According to Louisiana Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Joseph Kanter, 50 hospitals statewide have reached out for help.

Kanter says every hospital says they can no longer provide adequate care due to an influx in patients.

Kanter also said that there is no sign of a peak in cases anytime soon.
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https://www.wdsu.com/article/gov-edwards-addressing-4th-surge-of-covid-19-in-louisiana-after-record-hospitalizations/37242519

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Louisiana reports 'shockingly high' 16,000 new COVID cases over the weekend
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Author: Kevin Dupuy
Published: 12:12 PM CDT August 9, 2021
Updated: 12:17 PM CDT August 9, 2021

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana reported more than 16,000 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, as hospitalizations continue to skyrocket at an unprecedented pace.

The Louisiana Department of Health on Monday reported 16,541 new cases and 50 new deaths over the weekend. COVID-19 positive hospitalizations also increased by 299 to a total of 2,720 patients across the states - 91 percent of which are unvaccinated.

The state’s health department said the largest share of new cases were reported in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the Northshore.

Louisiana has reported more than 48,000 new cases of the virus in the first nine days of August.

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https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/louisiana-sees-16000-new-covid-cases-most-in-southeast-louisiana/289-6a5fa767-5f33-4508-a656-da9326a8ef39

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Louisiana breaks record for most COVID cases reported in single day
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Author: WWL Staff
Published: 12:29 PM CDT August 13, 2021
Updated: 12:49 PM CDT August 13, 2021

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana reported 7,548 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the largest single-day increase in new cases ever.

The Louisiana Department of Health reported 57 new deaths since Thursday, bringing the COVID-19 death toll in Louisiana to 11,519 people.

Hospitalizations edged up slightly again, similar to the day before. The number of patients increased by six to a new record of 2,907. The state’s health department says 91 percent of those patients are unvaccinated.

The slight increase in hospitalizations is far lower than days earlier this week which saw daily totals increase by more than 100. Four of the state’s nine health regions - including New Orleans, Baton Rouge and the Northshore - saw decreases in the number of people hospitalized. However, it may still be too soon to determine if the record-setting fourth wave of the virus is cresting.
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https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-numbers/louisiana-breaks-record-most-covid-cases-reported-in-single-day/289-02417094-1b95-4ca2-8597-258e4b514e68