LAFAYETTE, La. — The COVID-19 cases currently flooding the state's ICUs, and emergency rooms, they say, are mostly coming from people without the vaccine.
The vaccine does not prevent people from getting the virus, they say, but it does prevent harsh symptoms that will prevent them from having to go to the hospital.
That's the case with Pauline Lefranc. She's been vaccinated since March, and last week, got a positive test result for COVID-19.
“Just a head cold, honestly, if I didn’t know that I had been exposed to COVID, I would’ve thought it was just a head cold. A regular head cold, like any other I’ve had in my life," she said.
She believes she caught the virus at a social event last week. The following days, she started to notice flu-like symptoms such as coughing, a runny nose, and slight fatigue. A few days later, she's no longer taking Dayquil and Nyquil, which is all she says she needed to alleviate her symptoms.
“The first thing that came to my mind was COVID, and I was trying to reassure myself thinking 'it's okay, it’s probably just allergies... There are dogs around, it's probably okay',” said Lefranc. “I've never been allergic to dogs, but it would’ve been something new for me.”
She says she got the shot as soon as she could for a few reasons.
“Just the earliest I could and one of the reasons was, first of all, they were saying, you’d protect yourself and others by doing it, and my other motivation to get it as soon as I could was traveling.”
Aside from the vaccine making her symptoms mild, she says it also stops the spread.
“To date, the people that I was in contact with when I would've been infectious, including people I live with, are all vaccinated, none of them tested positive for COVID, all of them are negative.”
Vaccines are crucial, they say, as the state enters a fourth spike of COVID cases and hospitalizations.
“Just look at the numbers, they speak for themselves,” said Lefranc.
------------------------------------------------------------
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
To reach the newsroom or report a typo/correction, click HERE.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Evening News Headlines, Latest COVID-19 Headlines, Morning News Headlines, Special Offers