One of Louisiana’s largest hospital announced it will postpone all non-emergency surgeries as coronavirus cases in the state spike and hospital resources are needed to take care of COVID patients, the Associated Press reports.
Our Lady of the Lake hospital system, based in Baton Rouge, said that it will postpone non-urgent surgeries that require patients to take up a hospital bed for at least three weeks as the state has seen a shocking 900% increase in the number of average daily new cases in the past 30 days. Just five days ago, the state reported more than 5,000 new cases in a single day.
Only 41% of adults in the state are fully or partially vaccinated, ranking it near the bottom in the United States. Currently, 112 people in intensive care beds are people with coronavirus in its three campuses in the Baton Rouge area, accounting for 40% of ICU patients.
“Our inpatient facilities remain at capacity,” Stephanie Manson, chief operating officer at Our Lady of the Lake, said in a statement. “We made this decision to make additional beds and staff available. Previously scheduled procedures are proceeding as scheduled. We continue to schedule outpatient and new urgent surgical procedures.”