USA Today: Louisiana emerges as first area of world to be ravaged twice by covid

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A powerful resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Louisiana is hitting the state harder than its first wave in spring, making it the only state in the nation to experience two devastating spikes of the virus, an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.

The state leads in COVID-19 cases per capita, continuing to outpace even Florida, Arizona and New York, where dramatic surges of the virus have occurred since the outbreak began in March.

But unlike those states, Louisiana has been among the worst impacted in the U.S. twice during the pandemic — once in April when the New Orleans area led the state's rise in COVID-19 spread and again this summer when dozens of parishes across the state more than doubled the number of infections they experienced in April, according to the analysis by USA TODAY Network.

Louisiana and New York have long been the top states for per capita infections, but as New York’s cases have largely plateaued in recent weeks, the virus has made a strong comeback in Louisiana.

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