LOUISIANA, USA — COVID-19 is far from over. In fact, new cases and hospitalizations have been on the rise for weeks now.
Los Angeles County may soon require its 10 million residents to mask up again indoors, if current virus trends continue.
Children’s Hospital New Orleans Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Kline says right now, COVID-19 is also surging in Louisiana.
“I’m getting more calls, seeing more patients, hearing about more patients than ever before,” Kline said. “This is nothing to play around with. It’s making people sick. It’s keeping people out of work. It’s putting some people in the hospital.”
The number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all ticked up across the state and in New Orleans in recent weeks.
“There are a lot of people who feel really cruddy, right now said New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno. “This strain of COVID-19 is not mild for many, many people.”
The BA.5 variant is now the predominant strain here and across the country.
Dr. Avegno says community transmission of the virus is high again.
“It’s certainly the most transmissible that we’ve seen. Every variant seems to have gotten more contagious which is really shocking given how contagious the original variant was," Avegno said.
While Avegno is urging people to wear face coverings in crowded indoor settings, she says the city is far from requiring them.
“I haven’t heard any serious discussion of imposing a mandate,” Avegno said. “However, we’ve been advocating for masks for the last two months and we’re going to continue to do that. I’ve got mine right here.”
Dr. Kline says it would be wise to consider an indoor mask mandate as the numbers continue to rise.
“I think it’s time for hospitals to go back to mandatory masking. I’d like to see mandatory masking in other indoor spaces like restaurants and meeting spaces,” Kline said.
The new variant has the ability to get around the protection offered by vaccines and prior infections.
Right now, the city is averaging about 140 new COVID-19 cases a day.
The rate of positive COVID-19 tests in the state now stands at more than 27%
Health officials say that number may be a bit deceiving because many people are now taking home tests and not reporting the result.