The Louisiana Health Department reported a single-day high of 14,077 new cases and 12 new deaths today. Gov. John Bel Edwards said many of these new cases are reinfections.
“To illustrate this in November we recorded 563 re-infections and in December, as the omicron rapidly surged, the number was 11,278,” Edwards said.
The CDC estimates for the month of December that 98.2% of all cases in our region are due to the Omicron variant. Edwards said that with the increased transmissibility there’s been a hire percent positivity.
“As of December the 29th, the 7-day cumulative statewide percent positivity was 27.1%. The previous 7-day period had our percent positivity at 10.7%. Almost tripled in one week,” Edwards said.
Because of how rapidly the omicron variant has taken over, Edwards said that each Louisianan either has Covid-19, had it, or knows someone who does. Edwards added that this surge has led to a less accurate representation of actual current cases.
“The best estimates are that for every reported case there are 2 to 3 cases that are unreported because people are testing positive at home and that testing information is not being reflected in any of the numbers that are being captured out there,” Edwards said.
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