When Katy Monnet’s two sick sons tested positive for COVID-19 after being exposed to it from a babysitter, she wasn’t surprised. At 9 and 10, they’re too young to get vaccinated. She got tested out of precaution, too, and the results were negative. “I was like, yeah! Vaccine works great!” said Monnet, 42, of Abita Springs. But as days went by, she started to feel nasal congestion and pressure, and her symptoms got worse. “Finally I got chills. And I was like, This is not like a sinus infection,” she said. Monnet got tested again and was positive for COVID-19. According to the Louisiana Department of Health, well under 1% of vaccinated Louisianainas have contracted COVID-19, but the number of breakthrough infections — the term for when vaccinated people catch the virus — has gone up this month along with the overall case count. Through July 21 in Louisiana, there was a total of 4,737 breakthrough infections, according to the latest data from the Louisiana Department of Health. As the number in overall cases has surged in Louisiana, the number of breakthrough infections jumped by 60% — 1,800 new breakthrough infections — in just one week, from July 15-21, according to the data released Wednesday night. The number of breakthrough cases accounts for just 0.3% of fully vaccinated people.Monnet believes her story demonstrates how the vaccine is supposed to work. Her symptoms were limited to congestion, post-nasal drip, a sore throat, “then maybe three or four days into it, I lost my sense of smell,” she said.Dr. Jay Kolls of Tulane University School of Medicine said breakthrough infections tend to impact the upper respiratory tract, but the antibodies the COVID-19 vaccines provide “are very good at penetrating the lower respiratory tract, the lower part of the lung, where pneumonia occurs.” After about a week of being sick, Monnet said she’s starting to feel better and never felt so bad she couldn’t take care of her ill children. “I’m lucky that I was vaccinated because I know people that have gotten sick, and their cases were a lot worse than mine,” Monnet said. Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday that 90% of COVID-19 hospitalizations are of unvaccinated people. “The major driver of mortality is patients with lower respiratory tract disease that develop what we call a RDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome,” Kolls said. “These vaccines are very clearly working in terms of preventing the more serious complications of the virus.” Monnet thinks she caught the virus from her boys, not the babysitter. Her husband and 14-year-old son who are both vaccinated never got sick. Since her husband had a work project that week, she said, he slept in a different room to avoid getting sick and the precaution appeared to work. “We think it’s because I had all that extra exposure, like taking care of the kids. And I have one and he’ll sleep in my bed, and breathe in my face all night long,” she said. With Louisiana’s new case count the highest in the country, per capita, as the delta variant takes hold, state health director Joe Kanter said in a tweet Wednesday universal mask wearing – for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people – is needed “to stop the spread.”Data released Wednesday by the Department of Health also show that as of July 21 a total of 261 vaccinated people were hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms, and 53 fully vaccinated people in Louisiana died with COVID-19. “The big takeaway for me was just that there’s, you can still get sick if you’re vaccinated as if you’re in close contact with someone who is who has COVID. So wear a mask, if you can,” Monnet said. Note: This story was updated Wednesday evening with the latest breakthrough infection data from the Louisiana Department of Health.
ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. —
When Katy Monnet’s two sick sons tested positive for COVID-19 after being exposed to it from a babysitter, she wasn’t surprised. At 9 and 10, they’re too young to get vaccinated. She got tested out of precaution, too, and the results were negative.
“I was like, yeah! Vaccine works great!” said Monnet, 42, of Abita Springs.
But as days went by, she started to feel nasal congestion and pressure, and her symptoms got worse.
“Finally I got chills. And I was like, This is not like a sinus infection,” she said.
Monnet got tested again and was positive for COVID-19. According to the Louisiana Department of Health, well under 1% of vaccinated Louisianainas have contracted COVID-19, but the number of breakthrough infections — the term for when vaccinated people catch the virus — has gone up this month along with the overall case count.
Through July 21 in Louisiana, there was a total of 4,737 breakthrough infections, according to the latest data from the Louisiana Department of Health. As the number in overall cases has surged in Louisiana, the number of breakthrough infections jumped by 60% — 1,800 new breakthrough infections — in just one week, from July 15-21, according to the data released Wednesday night.
The number of breakthrough cases accounts for just 0.3% of fully vaccinated people.
Monnet believes her story demonstrates how the vaccine is supposed to work. Her symptoms were limited to congestion, post-nasal drip, a sore throat, “then maybe three or four days into it, I lost my sense of smell,” she said.
Dr. Jay Kolls of Tulane University School of Medicine said breakthrough infections tend to impact the upper respiratory tract, but the antibodies the COVID-19 vaccines provide “are very good at penetrating the lower respiratory tract, the lower part of the lung, where pneumonia occurs.”
After about a week of being sick, Monnet said she’s starting to feel better and never felt so bad she couldn’t take care of her ill children.
“I’m lucky that I was vaccinated because I know people that have gotten sick, and their cases were a lot worse than mine,” Monnet said.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday that 90% of COVID-19 hospitalizations are of unvaccinated people.
“The major driver of mortality is patients with lower respiratory tract disease that develop what we call a RDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome,” Kolls said. “These vaccines are very clearly working in terms of preventing the more serious complications of the virus.”
Monnet thinks she caught the virus from her boys, not the babysitter. Her husband and 14-year-old son who are both vaccinated never got sick. Since her husband had a work project that week, she said, he slept in a different room to avoid getting sick and the precaution appeared to work.
“We think it’s because I had all that extra exposure, like taking care of the kids. And I have one and he’ll sleep in my bed, and breathe in my face all night long,” she said.
With Louisiana’s new case count the highest in the country, per capita, as the delta variant takes hold, state health director Joe Kanter said in a tweet Wednesday universal mask wearing – for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people – is needed “to stop the spread.”
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Data released Wednesday by the Department of Health also show that as of July 21 a total of 261 vaccinated people were hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms, and 53 fully vaccinated people in Louisiana died with COVID-19.
“The big takeaway for me was just that there’s, you can still get sick if you’re vaccinated as if you’re in close contact with someone who is who has COVID. So wear a mask, if you can,” Monnet said.
Note: This story was updated Wednesday evening with the latest breakthrough infection data from the Louisiana Department of Health.