NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana continues to see declines in new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as the Omicron variant’s surge through the state eases.
According to new figures published by the Louisiana Department of Health, the percentage of COVID tests returning positive dropped to around five percent last week. That is a drastic decrease from the near 29 percent positivity rate reported in early January.
The LDH reported 961 new cases and 40 new deaths linked to the virus on Wednesday. The state was reporting on average around 13,000 new cases a day in mid-January.
The vast majority of the state's parishes are still classified as having a "high" community risk for the virus, meaning there is widespread and uncontrolled transmission with many undetected cases.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus is also on the decline. As of Tuesday, there were 657 people hospitalized with the virus across the state, a decrease of 365 patients from the week prior.
The health department said Tuesday that three child deaths, including two children under five years old, were linked to the Omicron surge in the last week. In total, 21 children under 18 years old have died from COVID-19 in Louisiana since the start of the pandemic.
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