COVID cases rising in Vermilion Parish

COVID-19 cases in Vermilion Parish have risen by 163 patients over an eight-day period.
On Tuesday of last week, there had been 5,914 cases of coronavirus in Vermilion Parish. As of Thursday, there are now 6,107 cases, an increase of 193 cases.
In the last week, one more person from Vermilion Parish has died of COVID-19, bringing the total to 127 deaths.
Vermilion Parish also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state at only 30 percent.
Medical experts say if more people don’t get the vaccine soon, Acadiana is going to have a very dangerous fall and winter.
“Our vaccination rates are low. We’re one of the lowest states in the country, so when you compare us to other states, Texas is well ahead of where we are in vaccinations. Certainly, the northeast, the west coast, and most states around the country are better vaccinated than Louisiana,” Regional Medical Director Dr. Tina Stefanski said.
She says while Louisiana is ranked 49th in terms of vaccinations, Acadiana’s vaccinations rates are even lower than most of the states.
Only 30 percent of Acadiana is vaccinated.
“I think a lot of people don’t recognize that we don’t even have a third of the population in Acadiana vaccinated. So two-thirds of our population are unvaccinated here in Acadiana,” Stefanski said.
She says she believes that’s because of false information going around.
“There’s a lot of false misinformation that is misleading people, and that is going to lead to a continued increase in cases, hospitalizations, and poor outcomes for people,” she said.
“I don’t want to see that happen, especially when we have access to these safe, effective vaccines,” she added.
Vermilion Parish is not the only parish seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Louisiana rose to 844 patients as of Wednesday afternoon, the highest levels since mid-February, according to a noon update from the Louisiana Department of Health.
Louisiana also reported an additional 3,264 confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday — the largest batch of new infections since January 15, when the state was in the thick of a deadly, winter surge.
Another 9 people in Louisiana died from COVID-19 overnight, the state reported, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths from the coronavirus to 9,819 since the pandemic began.
The age group showing an increase in COVID-19 cases statewide is between 18- to 29 and 30 to 39 years old.
Louisiana is at the start of its fourth surge in cases, fueled by the highly-contagious delta variant, and made worse by the state’s lagging vaccination rates. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s population remains unvaccinated against COVID-19, and hospital officials statewide said most of their patients hospitalized with the coronavirus haven’t gotten the jab.
Louisiana has logged 10,059 confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the last seven days, a number that’s 6.5 times larger than what was reported four weeks ago, according to an analysis of state data by The Times-Picayune and The Advocate.
And, since February, there have been 2,175 breakthrough cases, accounting for about 0.1% of all vaccinated people in the state, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. Of the 1,479 people who have died since that time, 28 were vaccinated, or about 2%.
The data is clear: Most people who get severely sick and die have yet to be inoculated.
“Everyone we’re seeing has been unvaccinated,” said Dr. Kara Ward, a doctor who specializes in pulmonary critical care and emergency medicine at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. “Over the last two weeks, numbers have skyrocketed and gotten out of control. This population is different than it has been previously. They’re younger, healthier and the commonality is no one is vaccinated.”