COVID in Louisiana shows consequences of Delta variant, low vaccination rate By Brad Brooks Reuters NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Low vaccination rates and the more infectious Delta variant are converging to create a new COVID-19 crisis for Louisiana as the United States and the world face the latest stage of the pandemic. Thomas Madden said his 13-year-old son, Gabriel, was fighting back. Madden brought Gabriel to the Lakeside Shopping Center in a New Orleans suburb this week for a vaccine at a site run by Ochsner Health System, Louisiana’s largest not-for-profit provider. “This Delta variant has freaked my wife out,” Madden said as he waited with Gabriel in the indoor mall just after he received his shot. “But it was really up to him - he wanted to get it as he was getting a little nervous about school starting soon.”