Four COVID deaths reported Thursday
The Louisiana Office of Public Health's midday report Thursday shows four COVID-19-related deaths in St. Mary since Wednesday.
The OPH also reported 44 new COVID cases.
Thursday's report raises the pandemic total of cases to 7,037 and the death toll to 161.
The latest update shows St. Mary's vaccination rate at 30.9%.
Statewide, 5,268 new cases and 54 deaths were reported.
The number of hospitalizations rose by only six Thursday, the smallest increase in weeks. The OPH reports that 2,901 COVID-positive people are in Louisiana hospitals.
Ochsner
On Wednesday, Ochsner Health System reported that 1,063 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in its facilties in Louisiana and Mississippi. About 89% of the COVID patients were unvaccinated.
On Aug. 1, Ochsner hospitals had 787 COVID patients.
The system operates Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. In the system’s Bayou Region, which includes Ochsner St. Mary, 112 COVID patients were hospitalized Wednesday.
The average age of hospitalized patients for August is 55.4 years for adult patients and 5.5 years for pediatric patients. Ochsner currently has 14 hospitalized pediatric patients. One is under age 1.
Ochsner said it has had 175 transfer requests in the last seven days that its hospitals could not assist. The system typically accepts over 50 transfers a day for a higher level of care or specialty care but is now completing only 20.
Ochsner has administered more than 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines. “This is a big milestone, but there is still a lot of work to be done,” Ochsner said in an update on its COVID numbers.
Vaccine available
at Nicholls State
Nicholls State University, the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana National Guard are offering free vaccines on campus for the Bayou Region.
Officers of the National Guard will be in the Leadership Suite from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They are offering the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. All students, faculty, staff and community members are eligible.
As of Wednesday, 38% of Nicholls’ students and 67% of faculty and staff are vaccinated.
University Health Services will continue to provide rapid testing by appointment.
The University of Louisiana System petitioned LDH to include the COVID-19 vaccine among the list of required immunizations following FDA approval