NEW ORLEANS — As of Tuesday, 271 people have been hospitalized in Louisiana due to COVID-19, the potentially deadly respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The new data was first revealed Tuesday after Governor John Bel Edwards requested a "major disaster declaration" from the federal government to help manage the state's increasing amount of COVID-19 cases.
Updated numbers from the Louisiana Department of Health Tuesday afternoon said that there were in total of 271 patients hospitalized with the disease, of those 94 patients require ventilators.
The state has not yet provided the number of patients who have been in the hospital and then been discharged.
Last week, LDH regional medical director Dr. Joseph Kanter said that there are 7,485 hospital beds alone in the metro New Orleans area. Currently, Louisiana has 923 ventilators across the state, though the White House said that it trying to get 2,000 more ventilators across the country soon.
Louisiana reported 12 new deaths Tuesday, bringing the total number killed by the disease in the state to 46. The average age of those who have died is 70 years old.
Currently, 43 of Louisiana's 64 parishes have reported at least one positive case of COVID-19, though that number has increased daily. Louisiana is listed as No. 3 in the United States in the number of cases per capita.
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