COVID cases are surging and hospitalization numbers are rising sharply as well, but deaths and ventilator use are not following at the same rate as the state’s first wave in April. Ochsner Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart says it appears to be because this new wave of cases is disproportionately young people.
“They don’t have the comorbid illnesses that we saw in the big surge back in March and April so frankly we are not having to ventilate as many people,” says Hart.
Hart says Ochsner currently has plenty of ventilator capacity, but that hospital bed usage has seen a big increase over the last month.
Dr. Hart says healthcare providers have also developed new techniques to aid COVID patients that were not available in March and April, including an antiviral that is much more accessible.
“We have been getting a steady supply of Remdesivir such that every patient that has met the criteria for Remdesivir has gotten it, so we have not had to go without,” says Hart.
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