NEW ORLEANS — At LSU Health New Orleans, doctors are watching as COVID creeps back to the forefront.
“There is certainly an increase of patients in the emergency department, an increase in the hospital,” said chief of community and population medicine at LSU Health New Orleans Dr. Benjamin Springgate.
Dr. Springgate says right now those increases are not overwhelming the health system like they did in prior years.
“It’s premature to suggest that we’re going to have a problem right now. The cases are still much lower than they were a year ago and two years ago, so we’re confident that we’re not yet in that type of a scenario,” said Dr. Springgate.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID hospitalizations and positive test results are increasing nationally.
The most recent data from the Louisiana Department of Health shows COVID hospitalizations and reported positive cases have been climbing since mid-June. The current positivity rate is almost 19 percent. In mid-June it was about six percent.
Hospitalizations doubled during that time from about 60 to as many as 140.
“We’re seeing an increase that appears to be related to a cycle that is probably going to come to fruition every six months or so,” said Dr. Springgate.
Dr. Springgate says this uptick is not because of a new COVID variant, but rather because Omicron is still in the community and highly transmissible.
Even though social distancing and required face masks are things of the past, Springgate says COVID is still very much part of the present and future.
“It is no longer the public health emergency it once was, but it still certainly represents a health risk for people who have risk factors for more severe disease,” said Dr. Springgate.
Dr. Springgate says anyone with chronic health conditions, older adults, and anyone immunocompromised should stay away from people who are sick and minimize possible exposure.
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