After spending long months as the U.S. epicenter of the delta wave of COVID-19, Louisiana has now become the state with the lowest rate of hospitalizations for the virus.
Data from the CDC Tuesday shows that Louisiana has just five people hospitalized per 100,000, compared to the U.S. average of 14 people hospitalized per 100,000.
The number of people hospitalized in the state has fallen 54% over the past month.
During the August peak, when the delta variant surged across the state, 3,022 beds were occupied with COVID patients., now there are less than 230.
Cases in Louisiana are also among the lowest in the country, behind only Florida, Georgia and Hawaii. There are eight cases per 100,000 people in Louisiana; the U.S. average is 22.
Louisiana hasn’t often done well when it comes to coronavirus numbers. The state was among the hardest-hit in March and April of 2020 when the pandemic first arrived in the U.S., and at one point was posting one of the highest death rates in the world.
