The Louisiana Department of Health said 90.2% of all COVID cases in the state are the Omicron variant. LSU Health Shreveport Infectious Disease specialist Dr. John Vanchiere said their lab sequencing indicates a significant jump in northwest Louisiana.
“Our lab is tracking week to week the different variants that we’re seeing around and this past week we’re at 80% of what we detected was the Omicron variant that’s up from 40% the week prior,” said Vanchiere.
Due to the highly transmissible variant and post-holiday surge in cases, Vanchiere said LSU Health Shreveport is testing on average 650 to 800 people a day.
“And our positivity rate has been around 42, 43% positive. That’s a very high positivity rate for community testing,” said Vanchiere.
Vanchiere stresses the importance of being fully vaccinated and boosted to reduce severe illness and hospitalization from the current variant.
“The variant is Omicron, by far and away the most dominant variant in our area and very, very easily spread,” said Vanchiere.
The CDC estimated the proportion of Omicron in the region that includes Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas is 98.2%.
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