LABEOC Update – 2 April 2020
As of noon (12:00 PM) today, Louisiana has 9,150 diagnosed cases, 310 deaths and 1,639 patients hospitalized (507 requiring ventilators)associated with the outbreak. From Governor Edwards: “While extremely upsetting, this increase in COVID-19 cases appears to be less a sign of new exponential growth and more a sign of a logjam from commercial labs.”
“Stay at Home” Order to be Extended. The statewide “Stay at Home” order will be extended to 30 April. A new executive order will be published by the end of this week. LABEOC will send out the new order via email, social media, and LABEOC.org once it is released.
Gov. Edwards Announces New Text Alert System to Provide Timely COVID-19 Updates. Louisianans can opt-in to the new system today by texting “LACOVID” to 67283. The text alert system will provide timely COVID-19 updates and other critical guidance directly from the governor’s office to state residents.
FEMA/GSA Market Research. On behalf of FEMA, GSA is conducting market research to understand the capabilities related to bedding, hygiene, DME, office supplies, and facilities commodities related to the US Government COVID-19 pandemic response. If your firm is interested and capable of providing these commodities to the Government we ask you, please complete the form below. If your firm does not have a GSA Contract but is able to provide the supplies below we ask you to complete the form so we are able to follow up with you as well.https://feedback.gsa.gov/jfe/form/SV_cTGW6JMlo2iEFxz
*Responses Due: April 5, 2020.
*The RFI will remain open beyond April 3rd/5th, but due to the immediate nature of the Government’s needs we ask for response by the 3rd.
FBI Releases Guidance on Defending Against VTC Hijacking and Zoom-bombing | CISA The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released an article on defending against video-teleconferencing (VTC) hijacking (referred to as “Zoom-bombing” when attacks are to the Zoom VTC platform). Many organizations and individuals are increasingly dependent on VTC platforms, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, to stay connected during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2020/04/02/fbi-releases-guidance-defending-against-vtc-hijacking-and-zoom
OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19. See attachment.
U.S. Department of Energy to Make Strategic Petroleum Reserve Storage Capacity Available to Struggling U.S. Oil Producers The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a solicitation to immediately make 30 million barrels of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s (SPR’s) oil storage capacity available to U.S. oil producers that are struggling with catastrophic financial losses due to the combined impacts of COVID-19 and the intentional disruption of world oil markets by foreign actors. The Department currently intends to make an additional 47 million barrels of storage capacity available thereafter.https://www.energy.gov/articles/us-department-energy-make-strategic-petroleum-reserve-storage-capacity-available-struggling
ASTM International Provides No-Cost Public Access to PPE Standards.The standards used in the production and testing of Personal Protective Equipment – including face masks, medical gowns, gloves, and hand sanitizers – are available to support manufacturers, test labs, health care professionals, and the general public. You must register with ASTM but there is no cost to download the PDF of the standards.
Businesses Seeking to Do Business with the State. Vendors and companies seeking to do business with the state during the COVID-19 response should use the LaPAC website. Bids on requirements are released daily to support on-going response and recovery efforts.
Thank you again for your support of Louisiana! Cannot believe that tomorrow is Friday already!
Chris J. DeGuelle
LABEOC Director
The LA BEOC is designed and developed by the NIMSAT Institute under the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP)
