Hospitals across the state and the country are seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases, and Acadiana is no exception.
Both main hospital groups in Acadiana report an increase in cases of COVID and other respiratory illnesses, although a comprehensive picture of local infection levels is unclear. As of May 1, hospitals are not required to report COVID data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Right now, the dominant respiratory infection we’re seeing in the community is rhinovirus, which is just the classic cold virus,” said Dr. Kaufman, chief medical officer at Our Lady of Lourdes. “Right behind that our COVID numbers have increased.”
Kaufman said there are currently 15 patients with a COVID diagnosis at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, representing a 50% increase from the current rolling average. This is much smaller than the last surge in early January, right after the winter holidays, which saw a peak of 59 patients hospitalized with COVID across Acadiana.
“There’s always low level surges that occur that are random,” Kaufman said. “It just takes one group of people to initiate a small spread.” Residents should brace for another surge at the beginning of the new school year and after the holidays, he noted.
According to Kaufman, many of those hospitalized with COVID at the moment came to the hospital for other health issues, and then tested positive there. “We’re finding that COVID is kind of in the background of what’s going on,” he said.
That might be a result of milder symptoms caused by the current variant, making it less likely for people to seek help at the hospital for their COVID-related symptoms alone.
“COVID-19 infections are on the rise but are not causing a significant increase in severe illness requiring hospitalization, as we’ve seen with past variants,” Dr. Sandra Kemmerly, system medical director of patient safety at Ochsner Health, said in an emailed statement.
That doesn’t mean COVID doesn’t still pose a threat, especially those with underlying health issues. Over the past three months, 55 people died of COVID in Louisiana, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.