Parish president: No new mask rules planned

FRANKLIN — As COVID-19 numbers continue to rise, St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff said Wednesday that he has no plans to impose new mask restrictions.
Also Wednesday, Ochsner Health System said COVID hospitalizations are up by 75% since last week at its hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi.
And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidance recommending that even vaccinated people wear face coverings “in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.”
At Wednesday’s St. Mary Parish Council meeting, Hanagriff said that while he won’t impose new mask rules, he urges people to get vaccinated.
“My belief is each individual is responsible for himself,” he said.
But he said his choice has been to be vaccinated.
More than 90%of new COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths last week were among people who hadn’t been fully vaccinated, he said.
“Please go get vaccinated if you can,” Haangriff said.
Officials with Ochsner, which operates Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City, said said in a Zoom call Wednesday that the number of COVID patients in the health system’s hospitals has increased 700% in a month.
Public health officials blame the latest surge in COVID cases on the easily spread Delta COVID variant and low vaccination rates.
As of the latest Office of Public Health posting, St. Mary’s vaccination rate is just above 30%.
Ochsner reported that 548 COVID positive people were being treated in its hospitals as of Wednesday.
In the Bayou Region, which includes St. Mary, the number of hospitalizations rose from 39 to 69 in the last week.
Also at Ochsner facilities:
—The positivity rate for those tested for COVID is at 20.6%, the highest since late March 2020. One week ago, this rate was 19.2%, and one month ago it was 6.4%.
—Hospitals continue to see high positivity rates in children but haven’t seen COVID hospitalizations. Among young people under 19, hospitals are seeing a 21.4% COVID-19 positivity rate, up from 16% last week and 7% the first week in July.
—Daily vaccine volumes in Ochsner clinics and community settings have gone from 500 a day to nearly 800 a day.
—In the last two weeks, Ochsner has vaccinated 10,089 people and has seen community locations double in volume over the past week.