LA COVID-19 - The latest Covid-19 update from the Louisiana Department of Health reports 2,679 more confirmed coronavirus cases and 47 more confirmed deaths, bringing Louisiana’s Covid related death total closer to 8,000 . The number of hospitalizations decreased by 58, and the number of patients in need of ventilators decreased by 10. There are also 45,345 total "probable" coronavirus cases in Louisiana. Yesterday, Governor John Bel Edwards issued a statement on Twitter encouraging employers to allow their employees to work from home if possible to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“I am strongly encouraging all employers and businesses to ustilize remote work whenever possible,” Edwards said. “Limiting the number of people in an office setting not only helps to slow the spread of covid, it also insures that employees remain healthy and productive.”
"Limiting the number of people in an office setting not only helps to slow the spread of covid, it also insures that employees remain healthy and productive." Governor John Bel Edwards, Louisiana
New, more contagious variants of the Coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom, have been detected in the New Orleans area last week. The latest vaccination data for Louisiana shows that a total of 301,316 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been given since December 14th with over 33,000 more doses administered since the Department of Health's last update on Tuesday.
COVID VACCINE HESITANCY- Public health experts say many groups are still hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Allison Winnike is President and CEO of The Immunization Partnership, a Houston-based non-profit. She says medical experts estimate that to curb the pandemic, at least 70 percent of the population needs to get vaccinated but closer to 94 percent would need to be vaccinated to end the pandemic.
“But with these problems with trust, messaging, vaccine availability, distribution and access, these are real hurdles that we need to address, and at the local level”, Winnike explained.
Winnike talked during a press conference earlier this week organized by Children at Risk, a research and advocacy nonprofit.