'A cautionary tale': Louisiana doctors face a different COVID-19 surge

NEW ORLEANS: Doctors in Louisiana have been through it before: the exhaustion, the grief, and the overflowing intensive care units. But this new surge of COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant is different, not least because it did not have to be.

"Where we are now was preventable, and that’s what is so hard for my colleagues in hospitals to stomach,” said Rebekah Gee, who until last year was the health secretary for Louisiana and now heads Louisiana State University’s healthcare services division. "It’s very frustrating and unfair for doctors to see preventable suffering.” The national vaccination campaign that began in the past year offered a new weapon against the novel coronavirus besides masks and social distancing. Health experts say shots can prevent illness or keep people from becoming gravely ill, and the more people who are vaccinated the less likely the virus will mutate into something worse as it spreads.