BATON ROUGE – More and more people are testing positive for COVID-19, and hospitalizations are rising. In the last four days, so are the number of people now getting vaccinated.

Louisiana Department of Health updated their vaccination data posting 45,000 first shots throughout the state have been administered since the data was last updated last Thursday. One week ago, that number was at 26,870 new vaccine doses.

For a pair of sisters, the fear of getting COVID-19 for a second time and losing another family member is their driving force to get vaccinated.

"I was a little apprehensive about putting something foreign in my body, but hey, I had the virus, and I don't want to get it again,” Gladys Brown said.

Gladys and her twin sister, Gloria Carter, spent the last few months in North Carolina, where they said the cases were not as pervasive. Now back in Baton Rouge, where the virus is more serious, they went together to get their first Moderna shot at Bocage Pharmacy on Monday. They are no strangers to the heartbreak the virus can bring.

"Everybody should get it. I mean, what's the choice? Die or not die,” Gladys said.

The two both caught the virus more than six months ago, and so did their husbands. Gloria's husband did not make it. The long-term politician and recent East Baton Rouge mayoral candidate Steve Carter passed away after being hospitalized for COVID-19.

"Yeah, we miss him, but God only takes the good ones early,” Gloria said.

The pair are not the only ones recently deciding to get vaccinated. In East Baton Rouge Parish, the percentage of people fully vaccinated jumped from 36 percent last week to 40 percent this week.

Surrounding parishes have similar fully vaccinated percentages, just under 40 percent. Livingston Parish is one of the lowest, around 27 percent, and West Feliciana Parish is the highest at 50 percent.

"We still have antibodies, but we decided that this Delta variant is pretty scary,” Gloria said.

For the sisters, getting the shot eases their fears of losing another loved one and gives them the confidence to visit their grandchildren again.