BR hospital surpasses previous COVID hospitalizations

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center (OLOL) in Baton Rouge set a grim new record Thursday, July 29.

The hospital says it now has more COVID-19 patients than it has at any other time during the pandemic.

OLOL says it currently has 140 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, including 50 in the intensive care unit.

The previous high was 138 patients.

OLOL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Catherine O’Neal says half of the COVID-19 patients at their facility are under the age of 50, including eleven children.

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O’Neal sent out a video message Thursday, urging unvaccinated members of the community to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

”Two weeks ago, we started sounding the alarm about our fourth surge, and that is was here or at least at our doorstep,” O’Neal said. “At that time, we had 35 COVID-19 patients admitted to Our Lady of the Lake. Today we have 140,” she said.

”We’re here today to ask you to help us. Help us end the pandemic. Help us stop what is happening to the people we love. Get vaccinated. If you get vaccinated today, you will start to have antibodies to COVID-19 in the next seven to ten days.”

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