Representatives for Ochsner Health System say while they are managing the current surge of COVID patients they are looking at contingency plans for the predicted increase. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart said we have yet to see the highest hospitalization rates.
“This is not even the Christmas spike yet. This is all the pre-Christmas holiday parties that we know were going on, so we still have Christmas and New Year’s ahead of us,” said Hart.
As of Wednesday, Ochsner Health System reported approximately 640 COVID patients across the state including Lafayette General. CEO Warner Thomas said with the expected increase of hospitalizations approximately three weeks after Christmas and New Year’s, they are working on making adjustments.
“We are continuing to look at that expansion and look for opportunities to move patients should we need to, to different facilities in our system,” said Thomas.
While Ochsner has yet to cancel surgeries and stop intake of non-COVID patients, Thomas said it is a challenge as the patient load continues to spike among COVID patients.
“It’s certainly something that is a challenge, and we are building contingency plans on how we need to continue to expand and grow bed capacity if we need to,” said Thomas.
Ochsner reports more than fifty percent of their staff has been vaccinated and rollout so far this week to those over the age of 70 at their facilities is going smoothly.
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