Hospitalizations drop in COVID-19 update as cases continue rise

Published 1:23 pm Wednesday, June 17, 2020

The Louisiana Department of Health update Wednesday on the coronavirus spread through the state showed the first drop in hospitalizations since Sunday’s report, but new identified infections statewide continued to climb.

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped by 35, to 553. This comes after a rise of 14 cases Sunday, 12 cases Monday and 20 cases Tuesday. The number of patients statewide on ventilators remained at 77.

Overall, LDH reported 48,634 identified cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, an increase of 928, or 1.95 percent, from Tuesday’s total of 47,706. 

The state cumulative tally of COVID-19 deaths rose by 20, going from 2,930 on Tuesday to 2,950 in Wednesday’s report. That rise represents an increase of 0.68 percent. As of Monday, 112 of those deaths were still considered probable COVID-19 fatalities pending final testing. The number of probable deaths attributed to COVID-19 is updated each week on Monday. 

In Iberia Parish, the total number of cases rose by 25, to 501. The number of deaths remained at 42, with 6,014 tests performed in the parish.

St. Martin Parish’s number of identified cases rose by 60, to 441, with 5,174 tests performed. The number of deaths remained at 28. During his report at the St. Martin Parish Council meeting Tuesday afternoon, Parish President Chester Cedars said he was expecting the rise due to a cluster of cases discovered recently.

In St. Mary Parish, the total cases rose by three, to 363, after 4,457 tests. The number of COVID-19 deaths rose by two, to 35.

In Lafayette Parish, the reported case count rose by 59 — a rise of 4.75 percent — to 1,302 Wednesday. The number of deaths remained at 32. There have been 25,298 tests reported in the parish.

Parish President Josh Guillory came under fire Tuesday for a statement claiming the rise in cases in the parish was due to increased testing. Office of Public Health Region 4 Director Tina Stefanski contradicted the assertion, saying the community spread of COVID-19 in the parish was due to public behavior.

Wednesday morning the Guillory administration walked back its claim, with LCG Communication Officer Jamie Angelle sending out a clarification blaming the erroneous statement on lightheadedness following a blood donation on an empty stomach.

The number of cases in Jefferson Parish was reported up 39, at 8,507 on Wednesday, compared to a rise of 31, to 7,459 cases, in Orleans Parish. Both parishes have had similar numbers of tests conducted — 64,011 in Jefferson compared to 58,848 in Orleans.

Even with similar case and test numbers, the more urban Orleans Parish has seen 51 more deaths than its suburban neighbor. Orleans Parish reported deaths rose by one, to 523. Deaths in Jefferson also climbed by one, to 472 fatalities.

The number of Louisiana COVID-19 cases identified in the 50-59 age range rose to 8,501, including 260 fatalities. In the 40 to 49 age group, the number of cases has risen to 7,993 with 107 deaths reported. There were 7,914 identified cases in the 30-39 age group, and 51 deaths.

The 70 and above group case count rose to 7,878 cases. The number of deaths in that group rose to 1,989 — the largest number of fatalities for any age group by far, more than the number of deaths in all other groups combined and two-thirds of the total COVID-19 attributed deaths in the state.

The 18 to 29 age group had 7,552 cases and 11 reported deaths. 

In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 6,885 cases reported and 530 deaths. This age group has the second-highest number of deaths, behind only the 70 and above demographic group.  

The under 18 group, the smallest demographic segment, had 1,911 cases total, with two deaths reported.

Louisiana has performed more than a half million COVID-19 tests so far. The state’s reference laboratory has performed 28,415 COVID-19 tests so far. Commercial labs have contributed 516,806, for a total of 545,221 tests. 

By gender, the state’s daily report shows women making up the largest part — 54 percent — of the identified COVID-19 cases in the state, with men comprising 41 percent and the other five percent identified as unknown or other. On the other hand, the COVID-19 deaths are predominantly among men, 53 percent to 47 percent for women.

The number of presumed recovered cases, as of June 14, rose to 37,017. In order to be considered recovered, a living patient must either be out of the hospital and 14 days past a positive test result, or 21 days past a positive test date if their hospitalization status is unknown. As with the number of probable fatalities, that statistic is scheduled to be updated weekly, on Monday.

The breakdown of COVID-19 fatalities by ethnicity and race showed some change last week, with the percentage of those deaths in the black community making up more than half of all cases. 

Initially, LDH reported that 70 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the state were in the black community. That number has since hovered in the mid-to-high 50-percent range. It was at 53.22 percent  Monday, with Caucasian victims making up 44.88 percent of all cases. Other races identified include Asian at 0.76 percent, other at 0.59 percent, unknown at 0.28 percent, Native American/Alaska Native at 0.10 percent and Native Hawaiin/Pacific Islander at 0.08 percent. That data is only reported once a week.

The number is still disproportionate to the demographics of the state’s population. African Americans make up about 40 percent of Louisiana’s populace. 

The top three underlying conditions among COVID-19 deaths in the latest report were hypertension (59.05 percent), diabetes (36.5 percent), and cardiac disease (20.13 percent).

Other factors included chronic kidney disease (19.65 percent), obesity (19.17 percent), congestive heart failure (13.37 percent), pulmonary issues (11.75 percent), neurological disorders (11.44 percent), cancer (7.38 percent), and asthma (4.14 percent).