NEW ORLEANS — Local experts say COVID-19 cases are going up across the New Orleans area.
The Biden Administration declared the COVID-19 public health emergency over back in May of 2023, but that didn't mean COVID disappeared.
Dr. David Janz, Director of Medical Critical Care Services at University Medical Center says a similar day in May, there were four patients across all LCMC hospitals with COVID. He says today there are 44.
"More patients presenting to the emergency department, and more patients getting tested for COVID, and then those patients being positive on those tests," said Dr. Janz.
He went on to say, "What we're seeing right now in Louisiana of all the people getting a COVID test for whatever reason, about 25% of them are coming back positive. Which is a dramatic increase just compared to two or three months ago."
Dr. Janz says just like four years ago when the virus emerged, this variant isn't picky, he said, "A lot of kids presenting to the emergency department with respiratory illnesses and a fair amount of those kids being diagnosed with COVID."
The New Orleans Health Department said, "COVID-19 has been trending upward, and Louisiana is currently experiencing a high number of cases."
According to the Louisiana Health Department, however, COVID-19 percent positivity decreased from 22% to 18.8% over the past week but remains high. CDC data though shows region six which includes Louisiana has the highest COVID-19 percent positivity nationwide.
Dr. Janz did say right now numbers seem to be plateauing but Dr. Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist with Tulane University says she expects to see cases increase as kids head back to the classroom, saying, "Oh very definitely cases are likely to go up, I think its really important for everyone, if kids, or teachers or parents are symptomatic, they should consider the fact it could be COVID... And if they're symptomatic they shouldn't be going to school."
She says a loss of taste and smell are good indicators you may have COVID. Dr. Hassig said, "We're not yet seeing increases in mortality and deaths from COVID, that's probably, partially due to so much to the population being semi-immunized."
The New Orleans Health Department also said, "We strongly encourage everyone to follow health guidelines like getting tested if they feel ill, regularly washing their hands, wearing masks in crowded indoor spaces, and staying home if feeling sick to help prevent the spread of the virus. Additionally, the New Orleans Health Department has stocked the NOLA Public Libraries N95 masks to the NOLA Public libraries for anyone in need."
