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BATON ROUGE – A small child is among more than 200 Louisianans killed by the coronavirus in the past two days, the state said on Wednesday.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said the child was less than a year old and was among 110 deaths reported to the state since Tuesday. Health officials said it was the first time in more than six months that a child so young had died from the virus in Louisiana.
A total of 11 children under the age of 18 have died from COVID-19 in Louisiana since the start of the pandemic.
“Every death from COVID-19 in Louisiana has been heartbreaking, but the loss of such a young child, who could not yet be vaccinated, is tragic and a stark reminder of the predicament we find ourselves in all of Louisiana . Right now we are seeing young people hospitalized. They become sicker than in the previous wave and unfortunately some of them may die. Already this week we have confirmed 6,146 cases of COVID in children and last week 63 pediatric cases of COVID were admitted to hospital. Even children who are not hospitalized or very ill are contagious, ”Governor Edwards said in a statement.
Wednesday was the second day in a row that Louisiana has reported more than 100 deaths in a single 24-hour period. On Tuesday, the state broke its record for a single day of coronavirus deaths with 139 reported.
The sudden rise in coronavirus-related deaths comes as the state continues to fight its fourth major wave of the virus.
Ochsner Health is also addressing the increase in COVID-19 cases in children. Hospital officials said on Thursday that 17 children under the age of 18 were hospitalized in their system.
The average age, officials say, is just over 5 years old. These figures show an increase from the seven children hospitalized at Ochsner in July.
Louisiana has reported 6,619 new cases of the virus since Tuesday, with a positivity rate of around 13.59% in new tests. Hospitalizations edged down to 2,844, although that number is still much higher than it was at any time last year.
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