NEW ORLEANS — The number of COVID-19 patients in Louisiana has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since Dec. 31, 2021.
According to the Louisiana Department of Health, there were 956 people hospitalized with the virus on Wednesday, a decline of 66 patients compared to the previous day. The latest patient census has drastically decreased since mid-January when the highly contagious Omicron variant was circulating through the state.
The LDH said that about 67 percent of COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Wednesday were not fully vaccinated against the virus.
New cases, deaths related to the virus and percent of tests returning positive are also easing in Louisiana. On Thursday, LDH reported 1,872 new cases and 46 deaths related to COVID-19. At one point in January, the state was reporting on average more than 13,000 new cases daily.
However, all of Louisiana’s 64 parishes are still classified as having “high” community risk for the virus, which means there is widespread, uncontrolled transmission with many undetected cases.
In total, 16,304 people in Louisiana have died due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.