"Because I was not vaccinated."

Matzen, 44, finds herself in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

The state has the highest 7-day average of new cases per-capita in the country, at 77 cases reported per 100,000 residents each day over the past week, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

"It is a kick in the gut to feel like we effectively have lost six or seven months of progress," Louisiana State Health Officer Dr.

It's the fifth lowest in the country, and Louisiana is one of six states that has less than 38% of residents fully vaccinated.

The state's largest healthcare system, Ochsner, has seen a 700% increase in Covid-19 patients over the last month and a 75% increase in the last week, officials said during a news conference on Wednesday.

if I was vaccinated, I wouldn't be hospitalized," Matzen said.

Some Covid-19 patients deny the virus is real

Louisiana is one of two states, along with Arkansas, where every county -- or parish, as the jurisdictions are known in Louisiana -- has "high" levels of community transmission of Covid-19, per CDC data.

Hospitalizations in Louisiana are also skyrocketing, with 1,524 people hospitalized with Covid-19 across the state, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Our Lady of Lake is the largest regional medical center in the state, she said.

But it doesn't have the staff to treat everyone.

Patients are coming in waves, O'Neal told CNN, forcing the hospital to call in reserve workers and shut down other wards.

"The load is becoming overwhelming," she said.

There were 140 Covid-19 patients at Our Lady of the Lake as of Thursday, 30 of whom had been admitted over the previous 24 hours -- the most since the pandemic began, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Almost 50% of the patients are under age 50.

Another patient at Our Lady of the Lake, Carsyn Baker, said she believed she got the virus when she visited her friend's house for her birthday, sitting on a screened porch.