NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana set another single-day increase in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant continues to surge through the state.
New figures published by the Louisiana Department of Health show 17,592 new cases and 14 new deaths due to the virus since the previous day's update.
Wednesday's new case rise breaks the previous single-day record set last week on Jan. 7.
Hospitalizations rose by 95 patients on Tuesday, to a total of 1,999 patients hospitalized with the virus across the state. Of those patients, about 75 percent were not fully vaccinated.
"We owe it to our health care workers and to each other to stop this surge by masking, limiting exposures, and getting our vaccines and boosters," Gov. John Bel Edwards said.
Louisiana was reporting about 200 hospitalizations four weeks ago. The highest level of hospitalizations ever recorded was 3,022 patients set in August 2021 amid the Delta variant's surge.
The health department also published new figures on the testing volume and the percentage of tests that are returning positive. Between Dec. 30 and Jan. 5, more than 28 percent of the tests collected tested positive for the virus. In that time period the state has collected the largest volume of tests per capita since the pandemic began.
While the highly contagious Omicron variant shows milder symptoms, the rapid rise in hospitalizations has strained the state's hospital capacity.
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