NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana reported 6,606 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, and nearly one-in-three of those new cases were among children, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' office says.
Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for the governor's office said that 28 percent of those cases - about 1,850 - were children. She said that the age groups with the most growth in COVID-19 cases were among children, many of whom are not eligible to get vaccinated against the virus.
"Kids are getting COVID, and most of them will be okay. But some of them will get sick, some of them will get long COVID and some of them will spread it to others," Stephens said.
COVID-19 vaccines are available to all residents aged 12 and older, but that does not include many students who returned to school in the last two weeks.
The Louisiana Department of Health does not publish the daily breakdown of new cases by age groups but did say that Wednesday's figures represent an increase in cases among all age groups.
The LDH reported 87 new deaths since Tuesday due to the virus. In total, 11,793 people have died due to the virus in Louisiana.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state continued to rise to new record highs on Wednesday. The number of patients hospitalized increased by 10 on Tuesday to 3,022 patients across the state. The health department says 91 percent of those patients are unvaccinated.
Hospitalizations have increased in 46 of the 48 days since July 1, according to LDH.
The rush of COVID-19 patients has stressed the state's health care delivery system to a near breaking point. Four health regions - which includes 27 of the state's 64 parishes - reported fewer than 10 ICU beds available on Tuesday. Specifically, health region five, which includes parishes in the state's southwest region around Lake Charles, only had a single ICU bed available on Tuesday.
Stephens said that Louisiana has just 11% of its ICU beds available on Wednesday.
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