LABEOC Update – 4/30/2020

LABEOC Update – 30 April 2020

As of noon (12:00 PM) today, Louisiana has 28,001 diagnosed cases, 1,862 deaths and 1,601 patients hospitalized (231 requiring ventilators)associated with the outbreak. Further data is available at www.ldh.la.gov/coronavirus.

Louisiana COVID-19 response strategic imperatives: Prevent spread of the virus, surge testing capacity, and surge contact tracing capability.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said that starting in May the state expects to be able to test 200,000 residents per month, a level that he feels will allow the state to reopen the economy following the coronavirus outbreak, which has shut a large portion of it down for almost two months. Edwards made the statement in a White House meeting with President Trump. Edwards thanked the president for help with Louisiana’s coronavirus outbreak and said that he thought the state had made great strides. “We’ve obviously turned the corner. We’re in a much, much better place than we thought was possible five or six weeks ago.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/louisiana-will-be-able-to-conduct-200k-tests-per-month-soon-governor-says/ar-BB13o7rQ

OPEN BIDS – all can be found on LaPAC at https://wwwcfprd.doa.louisiana.gov/osp/lapac/srchopen.cfm?deptno=all&catno=all&dateStart=4%2F27%2F2020&dateEnd=5%2F30%2F2020&compareDate=O&keywords=&keywordsCheck=all

  • Emergency Contingency Hygiene Kits, 3000014549, closes 12 May, 10am CST
  • Hygiene Kits, Adults & Babies-Statewide. 3000014744, closes 12 May, 10am CST

The smallest companies seeking coronavirus relief loans were moved to the head of the line Wednesday after the Small Business Administrationsaid that for eight hours ending at midnight Eastern time it would accept loans only from small lenders. The step was taken to ensure that small community lenders, those with under $1 billion in assets, and their small business customers would have access to the $310 billion program, SBA head Jovita Carranza said in a tweet.

The nation’s top infectious diseases expert says he expects the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to quickly approve a new experimental drug that showed promising signs in treating patients with COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC’s “Today” show Thursday that he anticipates the go-ahead for the emergency use of Remdesivir to happen “really quickly.”

LABI releases education, workforce recommendations for state post-COVID-19. LABI has released policy recommendations to help stabilize public education and address current workforce needs as Louisiana phases out of the initial response to COVID-19. https://www.businessreport.com/newsletters/labi-releases-education-workforce-recommendations-for-state-post-covid-19

Energy Sector. There is an uptick in consumer demand of gasoline. Weekly demand figures show gasoline demand last week (Apr 19-25) up 2.13% versus the week Apr 12-18, up 8.70% from the week Apr 5-11, and up 6.84% from the week Mar 29-Apr 4.

FEMA Assessment of “Meat Shortages.” Recent media coverage of “imminent meat shortages” will likely lead to increased panic buying and hoarding exacerbating spot shortages and creating artificial demand. Cold storage red meat supplies were down 2%, frozen pork down 4%, and frozen poultry supplies were up 4% from March. This suggests that there is enough frozen supply to meet normal real demand vice panic driven artificial demand. (Source: FEMA NBEOC Lifeline Snapshot)

NOLA Ready Daily Resource Calendar. The NOLA Ready website has a daily calendar outlining resources available each day to assist residents. https://ready.nola.gov/incident/coronavirus/calendar/?utm_campaign=City_of_New_Orleans&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

Resilient Louisiana Commission. The 15 Task Forces operating under the RLC have begun meeting this week. For more information on the commission, meeting times, and more visit: https://www.opportunitylouisiana.com/resilientlouisiana

Private Sector PPE Exchange Network. The PPE Exchange is a simple to use Dashboard to connect private sector sellers with private sector buyers. The users enter their own information and update as needed. This dashboard is not for government contracting – it is designed for B2B only. You can join the Exchange Network here: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/ppeexchange

As always THANK YOU for your TREMENDOUS support of Louisiana.

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)