Is COVID considered an endemic in Northwest Louisiana?

Makenzie Boucher, Shreveport Times
·2 min read
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On Wednesday, medical leaders of Northwest Louisiana joined to speak about the ongoing threat of COVID.

"We are certainly not out of the woods yet," said Dr. Chris Kevil, Vice Chancellor for Research at LSU Health Shreveport. "It's been suggested that it could be years before the COVID-19 pandemic is considered to be an endemic."

Dr. Martha Whyte, Medical Director for Northwest Louisiana (Region 7) said that the states COVID case number was close to 2,500 Tuesday. She said "we have been seeing at least 1,500 up to 3,000 cases a day."

Region 7 is seeing the BA.5 variant cases on the rise, with 13% of the cases reported being this new variant. "BA.5 variant has increased over the past several months," said Dr. John Vanchiere, Associate Director for the Center for Emerging Viral Threats at LSU Health Shreveport.

Whyte explained that this variant is mild for most people, but can still be dangerous.

LSU Health Shreveport's Emerging Viral Threat Lab.
LSU Health Shreveport's Emerging Viral Threat Lab.

More: Caddo Parish's COVID cases fall 13.5%; Louisiana cases plummet 16.5%

On Tuesday, 595 patients were hospitalized for COVID and six died. "We are still losing people every day to COVID," said Whyte. "While everybody likes to think this is just a benign virus, for many people it is and for many people it is not."

Vanchiere explained the importance of limited exposure, if you feel sick stay home. "It's easy to say well this is probably my allergies or I just have a little headache and a sore throat today. Those are cardinal signs and symptoms that it could be COVID," said Vanchiere.

Vaccinations are remaining the main source of protection in fighting this virus. "If you haven't been vaccinated, please consider going to get vaccinated. COVID is not going away," said Whyte. "We want everyone to stay safe, but also keep our community safe."

Vanchiere is urging parents to take part in National Immunization month with children returning to school. COVID vaccines are now available for children down to six months.

Vanchiere said, "it will help keep your kids healthy, keep them in school, keep them learning and well allow parents to be at work."

Read: 2 cases of monkeypox in Northwest Louisiana. Here's what you need to know

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: What's the status of COVID in Northwest Louisiana?