NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana reported more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday as the state continues to see some of the highest single-day increases in infections since the pandemic began.
The Louisiana Department of Health reported 10,403 new cases and 11 deaths due to the virus since Tuesday. In total, 15,027 people have died in Louisiana due to the virus since the pandemic began.
COVID-19 hospitalizations increased by 61 patients between Monday and Tuesday to a total hospitalized count of 1,287 patients. While that increase is smaller than rises in previous days, it may be too soon to determine if the rapid rise in hospitalizations is slowing.
Of those 1,287 patients, the health department said 76 percent were unvaccinated.
Louisiana was reporting about 200 COVID-19 hospitalized in mid-December before the Omicron variant began surging through the state. Louisiana reported a 27.1% positivity rate for tests between Dec. 23 and Dec. 29, the highest positivity rate since late March 2020.
While the number of tests has sharply increased since mid-December, Louisiana is still testing fewer people per capita than at the height of the Delta variant’s surge in August 2021.
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