NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — COVID-19 cases are rising in Louisiana, according to the Department of Health. It is the eighth surge since the pandemic started.
“My daughter recently got sick like last week and it was a high fever. When it is a high fever that I can’t make go away despite medication, I take her to the doctor and get her tested,” mother of two daughters Ruth Avila said.
She said that when her kids are sick, she makes sure they don’t spread whatever they may have.
“We just need to be vigilant,” she said.
Dr. Jeffrey Elder with LCMC Health would say that Ruth did the right thing, especially with COVID-19 once again surging in Louisiana.
“Just across the board, there’s an increase in positivity. For example, in early June at Children’s Hospital, we were at a 1% positivity rate and now they are around 11 or 12%,” Elder said.
He went on to say, “Why we are seeing the numbers now is a little unclear. We do think it is because some of the changes in the virus and waning immunities.”
Elder says although this mutated Omicron variant is not causing more severe disease, it is something you want to make sure you’re boosted against.
“That’s why it is important for those who are immunocompromised to ask their doctors where they are with their latest booster,” Elder said.
And for parents like Avila who are sending their kids back to school, “Washing our hands, isolating if we’re sick, testing if we have to, all of those things. We got this,” Avila said.
Doctors say by late September there is supposed to be an updated booster vaccine.
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