12 Fully Vaccinated Die Of COVID-19 In Louisiana Over 1 Week

More than 10 fully vaccinated people in Louisiana have died of COVID-19 over the past week alone, according to state data.

At least 12 Louisiana residents who have been fully vaccinated died of COVID-19 between Sept. 2 and 9, representing 15% of the new deaths recorded during the same period.

The state also recorded 285 new breakthrough novel coronavirus cases, representing 12% of the total number of infections recorded from Sept. 2 to 9, according to data from the state Department of Health.

Statewide, officials reported 2,371 new cases and 77 additional COVID-19 deaths among the unvaccinated and vaccinated population as of Sept. 15. Louisiana has now recorded a total of 721,795 cases and 12,318 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

The latest number of infections and deaths occurred among all age groups. At least 20% were among people ages 5-17, 18% involved residents between ages 18-29 and 16% occurred in people ages 30- 39.

The health department’s latest data comes as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Louisiana dipped to 1,512 on Tuesday, nearly half the number of hospitalizations the state reported in August. At least 88% of patients hospitalized with novel coronavirus were unvaccinated.

"Vaccines work. Masks work. Let's keep it up," Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-LA, said.

Breakthrough deaths have been on the rise across the U.S. As of Sept. 7, 2,675 fully vaccinated Americans died of COVID-19. Of the deaths, 44% were female patients, 87% were people aged 65 and older, and 21% were patients who did not show symptoms of COVID-19 or their death was not related to the virus, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COVID-19 cases in the U.S. dipped as of Sunday when the country’s seven-day average was reported at 144,300. In comparison, the seven-day average of new cases was at 167,600 on Sept. 1.

“It could represent that we have reached a peak and we are now on the way down,” Dr. Arturo Casadevall, chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNBC.

The United States has so far reported 42,479,780 coronavirus infections and 685,023 deaths, according to worldometer data.