Even as the state sees what might be a plateau in the growth of hospitalizations from COVID-19, the administration at Franklin Foundation Hospital has put out a press release saying that it was transferring multiple COVID-19 patients to other facilities due to staffing shortages brought on after caregivers there tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Here at Franklin Foundation Hospital, we have seen our fair share of COVID-19 patients and handled them well,” the statement began. “At one point 100 percent of our admissions were COVID admissions. While we’ve done everything possible to protect the brave men and women on staff, the reality is they are exposed to COVID at an increasingly high rate, and even with the best protection, are falling ill themselves. The hospital is facing major staffing shortages.”

According to the daily update from the Louisiana Department of Health, the state saw a decrease in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and ventilator use, but Louisiana also logged another day of triple-digit deaths attributed to the disease.

According to the Wednesday update, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state dropped to 2,844 Tuesday, down 12 from Monday’s total of 2,856. The state data also shows that the number of patients on ventilators decreased Wednesday to 472, a drop of eight from Monday’s total of 480.

The number of deaths reported Wednesday, however, remained high. The 110 deaths attributed to the disease Wednesday is lower than the 139 posted Tuesday, but very far from the single-digit daily reports the state was seeing in July prior to the prevalence of the Delta variant of the virus. 

The 110 new deaths brings the state’s total COVID-19 deaths to 12,226.

In Region 4, which encompasses the Acadiana area, hospitalizations rose by 10 Tuesday, to 397, from 387 Monday. The region’s number of ventilator cases also rose, from 72 Monday to 76 on Tuesday.

Region 4’s ICU bed occupancy was at 170 Tuesday, an increase of three, with six beds available across the seven-parish area. That put the percentage of occupied ICU beds at 95.6 percent. 

In Region 3, which stretches from St. Mary Parish east to Lafourche and north to St. Charles, 89 of 96 ICU beds were occupied as of Tuesday. To the west, where Region 5 encompasses the area from Allen, Jefferson Davis and Cameron parishes to the Texas-Louisiana state line, only seven of 84 reported ICU beds were available.

The overall hospital bed occupancy in Region 4 is still high, but not as dire as the ICU occupancy. As of Sunday, the occupancy rate had dropped below 80 percent, but rose to 79 percent Tuesday with 361 of 1,723 beds available.

Iberia Parish had logged 11,040 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, an increase of 152 since Tuesday. The parish COVID-19 death toll rose by two, to 190. In St. Martin Parish, 91 new cases were identified, bringing the total there to 7,560. The number of deaths rose by one, to 132.

In St. Mary Parish, new cases rose to 7,702, an increase of 66, with deaths rising by four, to 184.

The seven-day test positivity rates released last week showed the Teche Area numbers dropping slightly but remaining high. In Iberia Parish, the seven-day positivity rate rose from 24.3 percent on Aug. 11 to 24.6 percent on Aug. 18, which is slightly more than a 1 percent increase. In St. Martin Parish, the seven-day average positivity remained unchanged at 22 percent. St. Mary Parish saw an 8.75 percent decrease, from 16 percent to 14.6 percent.

Neither the state average, which was at 15.5 percent as of Aug. 11, nor the Region 4 seven-day testing positivity average were updated as of Wednesday afternoon.

According to Wednesday’s LDH update, the number of COVID-19 cases reported rose by 6,619, to 671,237.