(KLFY)- 99 percent of COVID positive cases are attributed to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
State Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter says, “There was just more COVID during this surge.” Dr. Kanter says the state is slowly but surely seeing the light at the end of the long and dark 5th surge.
On a statewide average, Louisiana had about 15 hundred new cases per 100 thousand residents this past week. This is down from just over 18 thousand a week prior. “I am confident the worse is behind us,” Kanter adds. He says when you look at the state’s COVID cases as a whole, we peaked and are beginning to decrease. But in the same breath, he says there are still a few regions trending in the wrong direction. Dr. Kanter explains, “Lafayette and Lake Charles are still going up.”
In Region 4 which is Acadiana, percent positivity has increased from 25.2% to 26.4%. State epidemiologist Theresa Sokol says, “That is one of five regions that has seen an increase.” But Sokol says there is some good news on the hospitalization front “They are going down from their peak on January 20th,” Sokol explains.