NEW ORLEANS — Another person under the age of 18 has died from COVID-19 in Louisiana as the state reported another 72 deaths from the virus on Thursday.
Thursday's update from the Louisiana Department of Health marks the second day in a row that the state reported that a young person had died from COVID-19. On Wednesday, Gov. John Bel Edwards confirmed that a child under 1 year old had died from the virus - the first child death reported in the state in six months.
The state health department did not identify the youth or release details about the individual's name. However, city officials in Baker, La. announced on Wednesday that a 14-year-old had died after falling sick with the virus. It is unclear if the newly reported death from LDH is the 14-year-old.
In total, 12 people under 18 years old have died from COVID-19 in Louisiana since the pandemic began. Nearly 12,300 people in the state have died from the disease.
Louisiana reported another 5,131 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Hospitalizations dropped by 115 patients on Wednesday, bringing the total hospitalized across the state to 2,729. The LDH said that 91 percent of those patients are unvaccinated.
Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for Edwards' office, said that 32% of the newly reported cases were in children younger than 18 years old.
Louisiana has now administered more than 4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Roughly 41% of the state is fully vaccinated.
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