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The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) reported that hospitalizations from COVID-19 dropped by more than 100 patients, according to the LDH’s update released Thursday at noon.

The LDH reported on Thursday that there were 2,729 COVID patients in hospitals, and 480 of those patients were on ventilators. In Wednesday’s report, there were 2,844 hospitalizations — so there was a decrease of 115 from Wednesday to Thursday. There were 472 ventilators in use on Wednesday.

The state reported 72 new deaths Thursday, bringing the total to 12,298 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020. There were 110 new deaths reported Wednesday.

The LDH said there were 5,131 new cases in Thursday’s report, bringing the total cases reported since the start of the pandemic to 676,368. There were 6,619 new cases reported Wednesday.

LDH officials also reported that non-fully-vaccinated residents made up 90 percent of the cases reported from Aug. 12 through Aug. 18, and 81 percent of the deaths in that same time period. In addition, 91 percent of current COVID hospitalizations are patients who are not fully vaccinated, according to the LDH.

Since the start of the pandemic, Washington Parish has reported 7,011 cases and 173 deaths.

The LDH releases an update every weekday at noon, online at ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.