COVID numbers continue to stay low in Louisiana despite spikes in other parts of the country driven by new viral variants.
State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter says percent positivity this week was only 2.3 percent, the lowest since the pandemic began, and only 301 people are in Louisiana hospitals with COVID symptoms.
“This week more than half of the parishes are in the lower two of the four risk categories. All of that is very encouraging,” said Kanter.
Despite this good news Kanter is concerned the more deadly and contagious UK variant could cause us problems. The CDC estimates a minimum of 13 percent of Louisiana COVID cases are UK variant.
“Last week we were at 3.5 percent and now we are at 13.4 percent, and it is going to continue to go up,” said Kanter.
Louisiana’s 13.4 percent of UK variant cases is much better than the rest of the county. The nationwide average is 27.2 percent, Florida is at 34.5 percent, and Texas is at 25.2 percent.
“We are doing much better both nationally and compared to big players in the region in terms of the variant and I think you can see that show with how well transmission has been reduced,” said Kanter.
Kanter also warned the CDC variant tracking data has a several-week lag time and that unverified but likely accurate data suggests the nationwide share of UK variant is now above half of all new cases.
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