TERREBONNE PARISH, La. — Months after many hoped the pandemic would be nearing its end, hospitals are grappling with a surge of mostly unvaccinated patients. Some parishes are even running low on beds.
The data on the Department of Health website is enough to bring back memories of 2020.
In Region 1, which includes Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes, 39 people were in the hospital with COVID on July 1. As of July 22, that number is 159 people.
In the Northshore region, 42 people were hospitalized July 1. Now, there are 155.
Ochsner Health said it’s seeing a 423 percent increase in COVID patients from one month ago. 97 percent of inpatients since February have been unvaccinated, and the average age is getting younger.
“If you go back to last April, our average patient age was about 69. If you go to January, the average number of inpatients as about 65 years old. If you look at our inpatients today, the average age is about 55,” said Warner Thomas, President and CEO of Ochsner Health on a Zoom briefing Wednesday.
ICU beds are once again at a premium. In Region 3, which include seven parishes including Terrebonne and the River Parishes, there are just six ICU beds open, and only 27 percent of all hospital beds are empty.
Government Tower is now closed in Terrebonne Parish. Thursday afternoon, the parish wrote on its website, “…safety of everyone is paramount in keeping this pandemic under control.”
Percent positivity is now above 16-percent in Ascension, Livingston, and Tangipahoa Parish.
But no parish is immune to the rising tide of COVID’s fourth surge.
Wednesday, Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said,
“If you have this mentality of, ‘well, I’m going to let everybody else get vaccinated and I’m not, and the virus is going to go away’, that’s not what happening. So everybody needs to protect themselves now and consider taking the vaccine if you haven’t done so already.”