Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) estimates the proportion of Omicron cases in our state has increased from 88.5% to 90.2% for the week ending January 1.

 

The CDC estimates the proportion of Omicron in HHS Region 6 (which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas) is 98.2%. Furthermore, 63 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes (98.4%) are at the 2 highest levels of community transmission; one remains unclassified due to low test volume. This is an increase from last week’s 95%.

 

Please note, LDH’s estimate for the Omicron proportion is preliminary and subject to change as more sequencing data are reported.

 

COVID-19 cases and emergency department visits are at an all-time high throughout Louisiana, and hospitalizations are high. These increases are attributable to the Omicron variant, which spreads faster than other variants and is now the dominant strain in our state.

 

LDH recommends getting vaccinated and boosted if eligible, masking indoors as well as outside when distancing is not possible, and limiting your exposure to those not in your household.

 

To learn about vaccination sites near you, call Louisiana’s vaccine hotline at 855-453-0774. For a list of locations near you, visit https://ldh.la.gov/covidvaccine or text your ZIP code to GETVAX (438829).