State seeing fewer patients in hospitals

Published 12:04 pm Friday, April 17, 2020

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The state continued to see consistent decreases this week, in both the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and the number of patients on ventilators, according to statistics released Friday by the Louisiana Department of Health.

The LDH said at noon Friday that there were 1,868 patients in hospitals, with 363 of those on ventilators. On Thursday, it reported 1,914 patients and 396 on ventilators; on Wednesday, it reported 1,943 patients and 425 on ventilators; and on Tuesday, it reported 1,977 patients with 436 on ventilators.

On Friday, the LDH reported that there had been 23,118 cases of COVID-19 reported, with 1,213 deaths. On Thursday, there had been 22,532 cases and 1,156 deaths reported.

The increase between Thursday’s statewide update and Friday’s update was an additional 586 cases and an additional 57 deaths.

Washington Parish had reported 184 cases and 11 deaths, according to the Friday update. On Thursday, the parish had reported 179 cases and 10 deaths.

There had been 961 cases in St. Tammany Parish, with 66 deaths, and 435 cases in Tangipahoa Parish, with 18 deaths.

The LDH said at noon Friday that there had been 6,102 tests completed by the state laboratory, and another 125,885 tests reported to the state by commercial labs — a total of 131,987 tests. There had been 126,586 tests reported in Thursday’s update.

There had been 504 tests reported from Washington Parish, as of Friday’s update.

Comparing deaths to cases, the state reported 23,118 cases and 1,213 deaths — a ratio of 5.2 percent. Comparing overall tests to cases/positive tests, the state reported 131,987 tests and 23,118 cases — a ratio of 17.5 percent.

The LDH releases updated statistics each day at approximately noon. For complete statistics, visit the LDH online at ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.