Number of COVID-19 hospitalizations drops below 1,200

Published 12:05 pm Wednesday, May 13, 2020

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The state of Louisiana has fewer than 1,200 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Louisiana Department of Health.

The LDH said at noon Wednesday that the state had 1,194 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and 147 of those patients required ventilators. On Tuesday, the state reported 1,320 hospitalizations and 146 ventilators in use.

The state’s number of hospitalizations fell by 126 patients between Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday’s report of 1,194 hospitalized patients is the lowest it has been since March 30, when there was 1,158 COVID-19 hospitalizations reported.

The LDH said Wednesday that there had been 32,662 cases of COVID-19 reported, with 2,315 deaths. On Tuesday, there had been 32,050 cases and 2,281 deaths.

The increase between Tuesday’s statewide update and Wednesday’s update was an additional 612 cases and an additional 34 deaths.

Washington Parish had reported 350 cases and 29 deaths, according to the Wednesday update. On Tuesday, the parish had reported 347 cases and 26 deaths.

There had been 1,492 cases in St. Tammany Parish, with 142 deaths (an additional 15 cases and an additional single death compared to Tuesday), and 687 cases in Tangipahoa Parish, with 30 deaths (an additional eight cases and an additional single death compared to Tuesday).

There had been 2,297 COVID-19 tests reported from Washington Parish, as of Wednesday’s update. That is an increase of an additional 69 tests, compared to Tuesday’s report.

In Wednesday’s update, the LDH said that 10,310 tests had been completed by the state laboratory, and an additional 227,594 tests had been reported from commercial laboratories — a total of 237,904 tests. The state had reported a total of 228,012 tests in Tuesday’s update — a difference of 9,892 tests.

That is the single largest jump in testing since April 14, when an additional 10,331 tests were reported.

The LDH also reported Wednesday that there are 22,608 presumed recovered cases of COVID-19, as of its May 10 update.

A person is presumed to have recovered if:

  • It has been more than 14 days, since he/she tested positive and he/she is not currently in the hospital or deceased (when hospital status is known), or
  • It has been more than 21 days, since he/she tested positive and he/she is not deceased (when hospital status is unknown).

The previous report was released on May 2, with 20,316 presumed recovered cases — a difference of 2,292 additional recoveries.

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