LOUISIANA
Please go to http://ldh.la.gov/Coronavirus/ for official information on Positive Test Results and locations. It is updated 12 noon daily. LDH officials’ latest report: As of last report there are 43 of 64 parishes with reported cases with 1,388 cases of COVID-19 and 46 deaths across the state.
WILL FORWARD UPDATED LOUISIANA INFO AS SOON AS IT IS PUBLISHED.
Orleans – 675 case(s) | 26 death(s)
Jefferson – 293 case(s) | 6 death(s)
East Baton Rouge – 58 case(s) | 2 death(s)
St. Tammany – 52 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Ascension – 36 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Iberville – 14 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Rapides – 10 case(s) | 1 death(s)
St. James – 9 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Ouachita – 7 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Calcasieu – 5 case(s) | 1 death(s)
West Baton Rouge – 5 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Washington – 3 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Webster – 3 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Catahoula – 1 case(s) | 1 death(s)
Caddo – 40 case(s) | 0 death(s)
St. John the Baptist – 21 case(s) | 0 death(s)
St. Bernard – 19 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Lafourche – 16 case(s) | 0 death(s)
St. Charles – 15 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Terrebonne – 14 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Bossier – 12 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Lafayette – 12 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Plaquemines – 8 case(s) | 0 death(s)
De Soto – 6 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Livingston – 6 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Tangipahoa – 4 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Avoyelles – 3 case(s) | 0 death(s)
St. Landry – 3 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Acadia – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Allen – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Assumption – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Beauregard – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Claiborne – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Evangeline – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Iberia – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Lincoln – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Natchitoches – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
St. Mary – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Vernon – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Bienville – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Grant – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s)
Richland – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s)
St. Martin – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s)
The number of cases worldwide continues to climb. According to health officials, there have been 425,493 confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 109,191 people have recovered, and 18,963 people have died.
In the U.S., with 55,225 confirmed cases, Senators and White House strike deal on stimulus package. Rushing to deliver government aid amid a spiraling public health and economic crisis, senators and Trump administration officials reached an agreement early Wednesday on a sweeping, roughly $2 trillion stimulus measure. The deal would send direct payments and jobless benefits to individuals, as well as money to states and businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Despite an increase in deaths across the country, President Trump said on Tuesday that a national lockdown had never been under consideration and that he “would love to have the country opened up” by Easter. Leading health professionals were skeptical of the president’s desire, calling that timeline far too short. While New York City is now considered the epicenter of the national outbreak, with the case count doubling every three days, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Tuesday. The state projects that it may need as many as 140,000 hospital beds to treat virus patients; 53,000 are currently available. Dr. Deborah Birx, of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said that anyone who has passed through or left New York should self-quarantine for 14 days. Dr. Birx said that about 60 percent of all new cases in the country were coming out of the New York metro area.
In China, Macau authorities announced that all non-residents from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan who have traveled abroad in the previous 14 days would be banned from entering or transiting through the Special Administrative Region, effective Wednesday, March 25. A previous entry ban on foreign nationals and foreign non-resident workers exempted those from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Individuals who have not traveled abroad in the past two weeks remain subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival. China has announced it will lift the lockdown on Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, on April 8, marking a significant milestone in its battle against the deadly outbreak. The easing of travel restrictions follows a significant reduction in new infections in Hubei, with new cases dropping to zero for five consecutive days from March 19 — down from thousands of daily new cases at the height of the epidemic in February. Starting from Wednesday, people in Hubei, except for Wuhan, will be allowed to leave the province if they have a green QR code on their mobile phones, the Hubei provincial government said in a notice on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.
Hubei has previously ordered all its residents to obtain the color-based QR code — which comes in red, yellow and green — and acts as an indicator of people’s health status. On April 8, the easing of restrictions will be extended to Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged in December, and residents with a green QR code will be able to leave the city and the province.
The death toll in Italy from the coronavirus pandemic rose by 743 in one day to 6,820, reversing a declining trend in fatalities observed over the last two days. Italy has 69,176 confirmed cases at the time of this report despite the nationwide lockdown.
Spain’s deaths surged by 514 in one day, bringing its total to 2,991. It also reported 6,600 new coronavirus cases, raising nationwide infections to 42,058. Spanish soldiers deployed to help fight the new coronavirus outbreak have found elderly patients abandoned, and sometimes dead, at retirement homes, as an ice rink inside a Madrid shopping center was turned into a temporary morgue to cope with a surge in cases. The army has been charged with helping to disinfect retirement homes in Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. Dozens of deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded at facilities across the country.
In the U.K., with 8,164 cases and 422 related deaths, some 250,000 people have signed up in a single day to volunteer with the NHS after a recruitment drive to help the vulnerable amid the coronavirus crisis. The helpers are needed for delivering food and medicines, driving patients to appointments and phoning the isolated. The scheme is one of a number aimed at relieving pressure on the NHS. About 11,000 former medics have also agreed to return to the health service and more than 24,000 final year student nurses and medics will join them. Stephen Powis, NHS England medical director, said there had been “outbreaks of altruism” and he was “bowled over” by the medics returning to the front line and the response from volunteers. The government scheme to recruit 250,000 helpers – who must be over 18 and in good health – went live on Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, they had exceeded their target, after many thousands signed up to Good Sam, the group coordinating the response. The help is being targeted at the 1.5 million people with underlying health conditions who have been asked to shield themselves from the virus by staying at home for 12 weeks. On Tuesday, it was also announced that the NHS will treat coronavirus patients in a makeshift field hospital in the ExCeL Centre in east London. While significant problems are being reported after an “incredible” number of benefit claims in recent days due to the economic fall-out of COVID-19. At one point on Tuesday more than 100,000 people were trying to verify online applications and others spent hours trying to phone welfare staff. Many gave up after long phone queues and then being rejected by the system. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was redeploying existing staff and hiring others to cope with demand. Research by the BBC suggests that pressure on the benefits system started to build in the middle of last week, shortly after the government introduced the first set of restrictions and then surged markedly on Tuesday after the prime minister ordered most businesses to close on Monday night. New claimants, many of them self-employed and facing a dramatic fall in income, took to social media to highlight the problems.
In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown of 1.3 billion people to prevent further spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) starting at midnight (local time) on Tuesday and continuing for 21 days. Individuals in India will be banned from leaving their homes during the period of the lockdown. Domestic flights will be suspended in India starting at 00:01 on Wednesday, March 25; international arrivals and departures have been suspended since Sunday, March 22. To date, there have been more than 562 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India, including ten associated fatalities.
In Australia, with 2364 cases and 7 deaths, Scott Morrison outlined a further set of restrictions on businesses and individual behaviors to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Thousands more people have lost jobs with the introduction of stage two social distancing guidelines. 2.6m people logged in to the MyGov on Wednesday to investigate their eligibility for welfare payments, and 280,000 lodged ‘intent to claim’ forms in one morning. New South Wales has introduced on-the-spot fines of $1,000 for people breaching self-isolation rules and introduced new laws allowing police to fine or even jail people for breaching social distancing requirements. While evacuation flights for Australians who are stuck overseas due to border controls and cancellations of commercial flights will be organized only “where feasible” and on a case-by-case basis, meaning Australians could be stuck for a while.
CDC recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to the following destinations. Most foreign nationals who have been in one of these countries during the previous 14 days will not be allowed to enter the United States.
- China
- Iran
- Most European Countries
- United Kingdom and Ireland
- South Korea (Level 3 Travel Health Notice)
CDC recommends that older adults or those who have chronic medical conditions consider postponing travel to the following destinations: Global Outbreak Notice (Level 2 Travel Health Notice)
The U.S. State Department has issued a “Do Not Travel” health advisory. The Department of State advises U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19. In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period. U.S. citizens who live abroad should avoid all international travel.
BUREN R. (Ric) MOORE
GOHSEP Intelligence Officer
Louisiana State Analytical & Fusion Exchange (LA-SAFE) Liaison
Office: 225.925.3674
In the case of terrorism, to wait for an indication of crime before investigating it is to wait too long. There is no guarantee of success, but there has to be a guarantee of effort. Let’s make it hard to hurt us. If you see something suspicious, report it.
