Ida adds pressure on Louisiana hospitals amid COVID-19 surge

Hospitals in Louisiana are now juggling Hurricane Ida damage, as well as a COVID-19 surge in the region.

Medical facilities in Louisiana are reeling from Ida, which demolished coastal regions of the state after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday afternoon. Ida, now a tropical storm, is one of the strongest hurricanes on record to touch down in Louisiana. Ochsner Health System, a not-for-profit health care provider, is almost completely relying on emergency power generators following the storm, according to Mike Hulefeld, the chief operating officer. Thousands of homes and businesses are also without power, and the outages may last for days, according to local utility companies Entergy and Cleco. At Ochsner's Kenner facility, parts of the roof came off the building as workers sheltered inside the building, and almost all of Ochsner's facilities have suffered from roof or water damage, Hulefeld told reporters in a press conference. Since city and and parish water systems are damaged, local hospitals are also relying on their own well systems to supply water to their locations. These damages -- and more -- reflect regionwide issues that health care workers are having to tackle amid the Ida aftermath.