New Orleans’ citywide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test mandate goes into effect Monday. New Orleans Department of Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno says close to 99-percent of COVID cases in Louisiana are due to the highly transmissible Delta variant. The Delta variant was first discovered in India and ravaged the largely unvaccinated country. Avegno shared her disappointment that the pandemic continues.
Enforcement goes into effect on August 23rd. You can download a digital copy of your vaccination card on LA Wallet.
The Louisiana Department of Health reports 75-hundred new COVID-19 cases today and 29-hundred COVID-related hospitalizations. LDH says 91-percent of hospitalizations are among unvaccinated patients. 54 fatalities were also reported today.
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon issues an emergency rule to increase the state’s hospital bed capacity at 24-hour acute care hospitals as COVID patients continue to overwhelm major hospitals. Donelon says Emergency Rule 46 is a repeat of what was done earlier in the pandemic.
Louisiana posted a sluggish 2.7 percent growth in population over the last ten years according to US Census Bureau. Demographer Greg Rigamer says 35 percent of all Louisianans now live in one of four southeastern parishes; Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, and East Baton Rouge.
Nationwide population growth was over seven percent.