Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Aug 9, 2024 21:18:03 GMT
Louisiana COVID levels among the highest in the country as school starts. See the data. - Published Aug 9, 2024
A COVID-19 summer surge continues to mount in Louisiana, according to the latest federal data. Louisiana has the second-highest level of COVID-19 in wastewater in the country, behind only Utah.
Four years after the first COVID-19 cases were announced in the state, Louisiana has retired some of the tools for tracking the spread of the virus. Mask-wearing, regular testing and sanitizing efforts have also fallen by the wayside. However, rising wastewater levels, hospitalizations and emergency room visits for cold-like symptoms show that COVID is still a presence.
“There is clearly virus circulating,” said Susan Hassig, an infectious disease epidemiologist and associate professor emerita at Tulane University. “I would suggest it’s at much higher levels than people are even contemplating.”
Although the virus is not the hazard it was in previous years, it can still be dangerous to people with compromised immune systems. That includes people in places like nursing homes, but could also extend to the workplace, especially in an aging population, said Hassig.
“Nobody necessarily knows who in their workplace has cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes or other underlying conditions, even asthma, that may be problematic if they get COVID,” said Hassig.
Louisiana has a large burden of chronic disease, with over 60% of the population having at least one condition such as dementia, heart disease or another illness. Many of those conditions make it harder for the body to fight off and recover from COVID-19.
Fanning the flame
It’s those patients that Dr. David Janz, a critical care pulmonologist, is seeing with COVID-19 at LCMC Health’s eight-hospital system in the New Orleans area. Systemwide, COVID has increased tenfold over the last three months.
There are 44 hospitalized patients who are positive for COVID across LCMC’s hospitals right now compared to 4 patients before the summer surge. In these patients, COVID is fanning a flame.
“Now, COVID just seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back in some patients that have just a lot of other medical conditions,” said Janz, the director of medical critical care services at University Medical Center. “And this one new respiratory infection was enough to kind of tip them over the edge.”
Over 2,000 people visited the emergency room for COVID-19 in Louisiana during the week ending July 27, according to the most recent data available. The highest percentage of those visits were among children under two, followed by ages two to four.
Back to school
With school starting, the surge could continue.
“Any time you put a lot of people together in a room, there is the chance of spreading any respiratory illness,” said Janz.
While ER visits and hospitalizations are still on the upslope, the rate has slowed, he said, indicating the spread may start to level and drop soon.
COVID-19 has settled into a twice-yearly surge pattern, making a winter wave likely. When COVID does reemerge, it will be on top of other respiratory illnesses that start to rage in winter such as RSV and flu. That strains how hospitals can care for people with conditions like heart attacks and stroke, especially in rural areas.
“The hospitals just get too full and too busy to be able to care for all these other conditions,” said Janz.
Janz said a newly formulated vaccine that contains the variants currently circulating could be available as soon as the end of this month.
A COVID-19 summer surge continues to mount in Louisiana, according to the latest federal data. Louisiana has the second-highest level of COVID-19 in wastewater in the country, behind only Utah.
Four years after the first COVID-19 cases were announced in the state, Louisiana has retired some of the tools for tracking the spread of the virus. Mask-wearing, regular testing and sanitizing efforts have also fallen by the wayside. However, rising wastewater levels, hospitalizations and emergency room visits for cold-like symptoms show that COVID is still a presence.
“There is clearly virus circulating,” said Susan Hassig, an infectious disease epidemiologist and associate professor emerita at Tulane University. “I would suggest it’s at much higher levels than people are even contemplating.”
Although the virus is not the hazard it was in previous years, it can still be dangerous to people with compromised immune systems. That includes people in places like nursing homes, but could also extend to the workplace, especially in an aging population, said Hassig.
“Nobody necessarily knows who in their workplace has cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes or other underlying conditions, even asthma, that may be problematic if they get COVID,” said Hassig.
Louisiana has a large burden of chronic disease, with over 60% of the population having at least one condition such as dementia, heart disease or another illness. Many of those conditions make it harder for the body to fight off and recover from COVID-19.
Fanning the flame
It’s those patients that Dr. David Janz, a critical care pulmonologist, is seeing with COVID-19 at LCMC Health’s eight-hospital system in the New Orleans area. Systemwide, COVID has increased tenfold over the last three months.
There are 44 hospitalized patients who are positive for COVID across LCMC’s hospitals right now compared to 4 patients before the summer surge. In these patients, COVID is fanning a flame.
“Now, COVID just seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back in some patients that have just a lot of other medical conditions,” said Janz, the director of medical critical care services at University Medical Center. “And this one new respiratory infection was enough to kind of tip them over the edge.”
Over 2,000 people visited the emergency room for COVID-19 in Louisiana during the week ending July 27, according to the most recent data available. The highest percentage of those visits were among children under two, followed by ages two to four.
Back to school
With school starting, the surge could continue.
“Any time you put a lot of people together in a room, there is the chance of spreading any respiratory illness,” said Janz.
While ER visits and hospitalizations are still on the upslope, the rate has slowed, he said, indicating the spread may start to level and drop soon.
COVID-19 has settled into a twice-yearly surge pattern, making a winter wave likely. When COVID does reemerge, it will be on top of other respiratory illnesses that start to rage in winter such as RSV and flu. That strains how hospitals can care for people with conditions like heart attacks and stroke, especially in rural areas.
“The hospitals just get too full and too busy to be able to care for all these other conditions,” said Janz.
Janz said a newly formulated vaccine that contains the variants currently circulating could be available as soon as the end of this month.