NEW ORLEANS — More people were hospitalized with COVID-19 at Louisiana hospitals on Tuesday than at any other point since the pandemic began.
Data from the Louisiana Department of Health says 1,993 patients were hospitalized across the state with the coronavirus disease - an increase of 19 since the previous day.
That total surpasses the previous record of most patients hospitalized at once of 1,991 set on April 12.
Hospitalizations in the state have dramatically spiked in less than two weeks. As of Wednesday, Louisiana’s hospitals were caring for more than 450 more COVID-19 positive patients than they were on Christmas Day.
Louisiana also reported another grim milestone on Wednesday - a new record for a single-day increase in new COVID-19 cases. The LDH reported an additional 6,882 new cases and 46 new deaths linked to the virus since Tuesday.
The health department said Wednesday’s report did not include a backlog of new cases and is “the highest number of daily cases reported to date in Louisiana that does not contain a backlog or two days of reporting.”
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is scheduled to address the state's coronavirus response at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The news conference will be live-streamed here when it begins.
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