New Orleans hospital marks 10,000th COVID-19 recovery with jazz band sendoff

Suburban New Orleans hospital gives COVID-19 patient jazz band sendoff

Miriam Bertrand, 72, was the Ochsner Medical Center’s 10,000th successful recovery from COVID-19 and received a jubilant sendoff with a jazz band performance. Credit - Ochsner Health via Storyful

NEW ORLEANS - A hospital in Louisiana celebrated a patient’s recovery from COVID-19 in a very New Orleans-style way: a jazz band performance sendoff.

The patient, 72-year-old Miriam Bertrand, was the Ochsner Medical Center’s 10,000th successful recovery from the virus at its facilities. It was also the hospital’s one-year anniversary of admitting coronavirus patients.

Bertrand, a resident of Kenner, Louisiana, was treated to a jubilant sendoff from the band and staff on Monday as she was discharged from the medical center in suburban New Orleans.

Bertrand had been admitted to the hospital on March 4 after experiencing shortness of breath, fever and fatigue, according to Ochsner Health, which operates the medical center in Uptown New Orleans.

The facility shared a video of the sweet moment as she was finally discharged.

Miriam Bertrand is pictured celebrating her discharge from Ochsner Medical Center on March 8, 2021 near New Orleans, Louisiana. (Credit: Ochsner Health via Storyful)

"Ms. Bertrand is doing well and had doctors, nurses and a band cheer as she left the hospital to return home to her family," Ochsner Health wrote in a Facebook post.

The medical center also held a moment of silence this week to mark the one-year anniversary of the first case of COVID-19 confirmed in Louisiana, which was reported March 9, 2020, in Jefferson Parish, according to local news reports.

The surrounding New Orleans area has faced many coronavirus-related restrictions over the course of the pandemic. Most recently, canceled parades, closed bars and a near shutdown of rowdy Bourbon Street led to a very muted Mardi Gras season.

The city began to ease some of its COVID-19 restrictions this week, entering a "modified Phase 3," yet still remains stricter than the rest of the state. Residents will not be able to sit at a bar to drink without ordering food, though standing at or gathering around a bar remains banned, according to WWLTV.

Live music is also allowed indoors, but capacity must be reduced from 75% to 50% if anyone is singing or playing a wind instrument — and all patrons must be seated, WWLTV reports.

Louisiana has reported nearly 435,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 9,700 virus deaths since the onset of the outbreak, according to data from its health department.

This story was reported from Cincinnati.