‘Every single one’ of Louisiana’s hospitals at risk of overflow
23rd November 2020 · 0 Comments
By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer
(lailluminator.com) — Gov. John Bel Edwards expressed deep concern Thursday about the continuous increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations across Louisiana, which have climbed by nearly 30 percent over the last seven days and are bringing hospitals to the brink of patient overflow.
At a press conference Thursday, the governor reported 929 patients in hospitals due to COVID-19, an increase of 43 from Wednesday and 253 from a week ago.
“That is the metric that is most concerning to me,” Edwards said. “Obviously it pains me greatly every day to read the death numbers, but what we know is that the more people in the hospital today, the more people that we’re going to be reporting as a death two weeks three weeks from now.”
The state had 2,073 new confirmed cases and 15 new deaths, bringing cumulative totals to 211,966 cases and 6,199 deaths, respectively. The daily case count came from 27,961 tests administered.
The governor urged Louisianans to minimize contact with family members over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
“If we insist on this Thanksgiving looking like last Thanksgiving…then we make it very likely that Christmas a month from now is not going to be one that your family is going to be able to celebrate,” Edwards said.
Anyone planning a Thanksgiving with extended family members all in the same room or sitting at the same table is “making a mistake,” the governor said.
Speaking on behalf of 26 physician colleagues in Baton Rouge, Dr. Christopher Thomas, a critical care physician at Our Lady of the Lake said Louisiana’s response to the coronavirus situation needs to be “all hands on deck,” meaning the citizens need to respond in ways they currently are not.
“People’s mindsets need to change,” Thomas said.
“Every single one” of Louisiana’s hospitals are suffering from staffing shortages and are either at or near maximum patient capacity due to the virus, Thomas said.
An ongoing risk to frontline healthcare workers is contracting the virus from their patients, which Thomas experienced himself.
“I am not ashamed to say that I had fear upon the diagnosis (and) that I had seen critically ill patients in my hospital not be able to survive, and I was given that same possibility,” Thomas said. “I think that is real, that is logical, that is science, and we should recognize that possibility when we think about our loved ones.”
Louisiana is coming off having the lowest percent positivity rate and cases per capita in the South, which the governor attributed to the face mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions put in place over the summer. However, the recent third surge is showing no signs of improvement.
The petition created by the state’s House GOP members, which tried to end the restrictions, has caused confusion among citizens who disregarded coronavirus mitigation measures, Edwards said. A 19th Judicial District judge recently ruled that petition unconstitutional.
The governor again asked Louisianans to wear face masks and practice social distancing for what many hope will be the virus’ final surge until vaccines become available. Edwards said frontline healthcare workers in Louisiana could start receiving the vaccine before the end of the year.
Louisiana Illuminator (www.lailluminator.com) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization driven by its mission to cast light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianans, particularly those who are poor or otherwise marginalized.
This article originally published in the November 23, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
