Louisiana is being pummeled by COVID-19.
On Wednesday, the state set a record for COVID hospitalizations: 2,247 people. COVID deaths in the state have increased by 174% in the last 14 days. New infections are up 116% in the same time period. Even younger people are becoming sick from COVID; many of the state’s children’s hospitals are at capacity.
“People are younger and sicker, and we’re intubating and losing people that are my age and younger, people with kids that are my kids’ age that are never going to see their kids graduate,” said ICU nurse Felicia Croft in a viral video (watch above).
FROM THE FRONTLINES: A COVID ICU nurse in Shreveport, Louisiana, shares a heartbreaking message about the toll of the Delta variant on her patients — including both parents of her 14-year-old daughter's friend:
"We are intubating and losing people that are my age and younger." pic.twitter.com/0WwXnXtQXE
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 4, 2021
Croft’s clear frustration is indicative of a wider problem in Louisiana. The state’s healthcare system is overtaxed and frontline workers are asked to shoulder a Herculean burden. More than 6,000 nursing positions are open in the state.
According to Reuters:
[Ecoee Rooney, president of the Louisiana State Nurses Association] said nursing staff are beyond exhaustion, and like those across the country are deeply demoralized to be facing what they know was a preventable surge. “We have COVID patients who don’t believe they even have COVID, because they refuse to believe it exists,” Rooney said. “We’re feeling the brunt of the frustration and the anxiety about what our future looks like if people don’t get vaccinated and wear masks.”
“These are the darkest days of our pandemic,” said Catherine O’Neal, the chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.
But there’s a silver lining: Louisianans are starting to get vaccinated in greater numbers. Demand for vaccines have nearly quadrupled in recent weeks. The number of residents who had received at least one dose rose by more than 46,000 between Thursday and Monday, to nearly 43%.
“The public is finally hearing how bad it has gotten,” Dr. Robert C. Peltier, the chief medical officer for North Oaks Health System in Hammond, told The New York Times.
Still, Louisiana has a lot of ground to make up. As of Thursday morning, the state ranked 47th in vaccine uptake, with 37.15% of its population fully vaccinated.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards re-instated a mask mandate for indoor settings to help mitigate the recent surge – which is fueled by both the delta variant and unvaccinated residents who allow the virus to circulate with greater ease.
“This is bad. And it’s not this bad anywhere else in the country today,” the governor said at a news conference on Monday. “This is having an adverse impact on people’s lives today. And the least we can do is put a mask on. It is not an onerous burden.”
“Do you give a damn? … I’ve heard it said often: Louisiana’s the most pro-life state in the nation. I want to believe that.”
— Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) on vaccine/mask-hesitant in state, which has country’s highest number of COVID cases per capita. pic.twitter.com/wh1eL7IdPs
— The Recount (@therecount) August 4, 2021
“Do you give a damn? I hope you do. I do,” Edwards added. “I’ve heard it said often: Louisiana’s the most pro-life state in the nation. I want to believe that. It ought to mean something.”