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The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) reported that hospitalizations from COVID-19 dropped yet again, according to the LDH’s update released Friday at noon.

The LDH reported on Friday that there were 2,684 COVID patients in hospitals, and 479 of those patients were on ventilators. In Thursday’s report, there were 2,729 hospitalizations — so there was a decrease of 45 from Thursday to Friday. There were 480 ventilators in use on Thursday.

There has been a steady decrease in hospitalizations over the course of the most recent week. On Friday, Aug. 20, the LDH reported 2,999 hospitalizations.

The state reported 61 new deaths Friday, bring the total to 12,359 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020. There were 72 new deaths reported Thursday.

The LDH said there were 3,428 new cases in Friday’s report, bringing the total cases reported since the start of the pandemic to 679,796. There were 5,131 new cases reported Thursday.

LDH officials also reported that non-fully-vaccinated residents made up 90 percent of the cases reported from Aug. 12 through Aug. 18, and 81 percent of the deaths in that same time period. In addition, 91 percent of current COVID hospitalizations are patients who are not fully vaccinated, according to the LDH.

Since the start of the pandemic, Washington Parish has reported 7,069 cases and 173 deaths.

The LDH releases an update every weekday at noon, online at ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.