The state’s largest healthcare system reports a 700% increase in COVID hospital patients in the last month and a 75% increase from last week. Ochsner CEO Warner Thomas said most of their COVID patients are unvaccinated against the virus.
“Just to be clear we’re absolutely in the fourth surge. This has evolved to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Of the 548 (patients) 88% are unvaccinated,” said Thomas.
When the pandemic began in the U-S Thomas said the majority of hospital patients were older but that’s changed with a large majority of seniors vaccinated for COVID. He said in the spring of 2020 about 10% to 15% of their COVID patients were younger than 50 years of age.
“What we’re seeing today is about 40% of the people that we’re seeing in the hospital are 50 and under, so this is absolutely hitting the younger population,” said Thomas.
And the Delta variant is also responsible for an increase in COVID cases among children. Director of Infection Control and Prevention at Ochsner Doctor Katherine Baumgarten said while hospitalizations are rare with children, COVID cases among children are increasing rapidly.
“Over the last week we have seen a positivity rate of 21.4%, that’s up from 16% last week. And this does show that we need to protect our kids,” said Baumgarten.
Baumgarten said the best way to protect children is to increase vaccination rates among individuals 12 and older and to continue to mask and social distance.
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