Governor: Jump in totals more about logjam breaking in reporting of testing results

Published 9:00 am Friday, April 3, 2020

The Louisiana Department of Health daily update Thursday showed the number of COVID-19 cases in the state closing in on 10,000 as the number of deaths attributed to the disease climbs above 300.

The total identified cases in the state are at 9,150, a rise of 2,726 from Wednesday’s total of 6,424 — a 42 percent increase in the last 24 hours. The number of recorded deaths sat at 310, an increase of 37. In a radio interview Thursday morning ahead of the noon update, Gov. John Bel Edwards attributed the dramatic increase in identified cases to a “logjam” in the reporting of testing results which broke, making several days worth of data available today.

“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,” Edwards said. “I am pleased to see a ramp up in testing across the state. We need this energy and commitment to continue. It’s important to understand that what’s happening in Louisiana with the increased testing is also happening around the country. That said, as more and more commercial labs come online our different data systems must learn to talk to one another.”

In Iberia Parish, the total of identified cases rose Thursday to 67, a 31 percent increase. The parish saw its first COVID-19 related death Wednesday.

One sign of the increased attention to the state’s stay-at-home order and social distancing efforts is the establishment of controlled entrance and exit lines at the Walmart in New Iberia, where employees now watch customers entering and exiting the store through a lane of taped arrows and orange cones. According to one store employee, workers were told the retailer will implement temperature checks for employees reporting to work next week.

St. Martin Parish saw its cases rise from 41 to 58, an increase of 41 percent. That total includes three COVID-19-attributed deaths which were reported last week.

In St. Mary Parish, the number of cases rose from 26 on Wednesday to 42 in today’s report, or a 62 percent increase in 24 hours. There have been no reported COVID-19 deaths in the parish as of Thursday.

Lafayette Parish saw an increase to 247 identified cases, a 55 percent increase from Wednesday’s 159 cases. Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory confirmed the second death in Lafayette Parish from the disease at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. The parish reported its first death related to COVID-19 this past Friday.

The dramatic rise in identified coronavirus infections comes as local parishes continue their own drive-through testing events. Although Lafayette Parish has been doing regular drive-through testing for more than a week, Iberia Medical Center only held its second one Wednesday at North Lewis Elementary School, drawing 74 attendees.

New Orleans is at 3,148 cases, up 39 percent from 2,270 on Wednesday. The parish logged 10 additional deaths overnight, climbing to 125. The Jefferson Parish case count has risen 52 percent to 2,178 from 1,433 on Wednesday, with 73 deaths.

The number of hospitalized patients has also grown. Currently there are 1,639 patients in hospital beds across the state, with 507 of them requiring ventilators to breathe, an increase of 52. That is up from 1,498 patients, 490 on ventilators Tuesday.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said earlier in the week that if Louisiana’s number of cases continues to grow at this rate and the state is unable to flatten the curve, the New Orleans area could run out of ventilators by April 5 and hospital beds by April 12.

The state health department has added a section to its report tracking the number of hospital beds, ventilators and intensive care beds available in each region. None are at capacity yet, but the state is expected to hit its maximum resource demand until late next week. Projections from a team at Washington State University show the state hitting its peak resource use on April 10, with its peak deaths coming on April 12, with 85 dead that day.

The state’s reference laboratory has performed 3,901 tests as of Wednesday’s report. Commercial laboratories have added another 47,185 tests.

The current number of Louisiana COVID-19 cases identified in the 50-59 age range, the largest group of confirmed cases, rose 595 Thursday to 1,929 — a 45 percent increase, including 43 fatalities. In the 40 to 49 age group, the number of cases has risen to 1,714 with 21 deaths reported. In the 60 to 69 age group, there were 1,640 cases reported and 47 deaths. The 70 and above group case count rose to 1,470 cases. The number of deaths in that group rose to 184 — the largest number of fatalities for any age group and more than the number of deaths in all other groups combined.

There are 1,454 identified cases in the 30-39 age group, and 10 deaths. The 18 to 29 age group has 878 cases, up from 632, and four reported deaths. The under 18 group has 65 cases total, with one death reported.

Women continue to make up the largest part — 55 percent — of the identified COVID-19 cases in the state. Men make up 40 percent, with 5 percent listed as unknown or other.

• Orleans – 3,148 case(s) | 125 death(s) | 1,668 state tests | 11,940 commercial tests

• Jefferson – 2,178 case(s) | 73 death(s) | 599 state tests | 2,478 commercial tests

• St. Tammany – 399 case(s) | 9 death(s) | 154 state tests | 1,600 commercial tests

• Caddo – 336 case(s) | 10 death(s) | 123 state tests | 9,397 commercial tests

• East Baton Rouge – 325 case(s) | 11 death(s) | 301 state tests | 3,308 commercial tests

• St. John the Baptist – 274 case(s) | 14 death(s) | 4 state tests | 21 commercial tests

• Lafayette – 247 case(s) | 2 death(s) | 81 state tests | 4,719 commercial tests

• Ascension – 201 case(s) | 7 death(s) | 27 state tests | 1,222 commercial tests

• St. Bernard – 181 case(s) | 5 death(s) | 5 state tests | 179 commercial tests

• St. Charles – 180 case(s) | 8 death(s) | 1 state tests | 60 commercial tests

• Lafourche – 158 case(s) | 4 death(s) | 138 state tests | 801 commercial tests

• St. James – 110 case(s) | 4 death(s) | 72 state tests | 159 commercial tests

• Calcasieu – 108 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 77 state tests | 2,125 commercial tests

• Terrebonne – 97 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 71 state tests | 244 commercial tests

• Ouachita – 94 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 113 state tests | 1,389 commercial tests

• Bossier – 87 case(s) | 2 death(s) | 28 state tests | 1,297 commercial tests

• Rapides – 77 case(s) | 3 death(s) | 63 state tests | 883 commercial tests

• Iberville – 69 case(s) | 4 death(s) | 2 state tests | 72 commercial tests

• Plaquemines – 68 case(s) | 3 death(s) | 2 state tests | 40 commercial tests

• Iberia – 67 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 80 state tests | 192 commercial tests

• Acadia – 61 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 5 state tests | 168 commercial tests

• St. Martin – 58 case(s) | 3 death(s) | 1 state tests | 93 commercial tests

• St. Landry – 56 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 21 state tests | 265 commercial tests

• Washington – 50 case(s) | 2 death(s) | 51 state tests | 194 commercial tests

• De Soto – 42 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 7 state tests | 45 commercial tests

• St. Mary – 42 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 7 state tests | 168 commercial tests

• Tangipahoa – 42 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 6 state tests | 450 commercial tests

• Parish Under Investigation – 38 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 0 state tests | 0 commercial tests

• Avoyelles – 34 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 1 state tests | 45 commercial tests

• Livingston – 33 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 1 state tests | 147 commercial tests

• Assumption – 31 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 6 state tests | 76 commercial tests

• Allen – 26 case(s) | 3 death(s) | 5 state tests | 63 commercial tests

• Webster – 19 case(s) | 2 death(s) | 8 state tests | 367 commercial tests

• West Baton Rouge – 19 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 0 state tests | 24 commercial tests

• Evangeline – 16 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 13 state tests | 102 commercial tests

• Vermilion – 16 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 3 state tests | 176 commercial tests

• East Feliciana – 14 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 9 state tests | 26 commercial tests

• Jefferson Davis – 13 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 21 state tests | 361 commercial tests

• Lincoln – 13 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 12 state tests | 166 commercial tests

• Union – 13 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 3 state tests | 17 commercial tests

• Pointe Coupee – 12 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 7 state tests | 76 commercial tests

• Claiborne – 11 case(s) | 2 death(s) | 5 state tests | 27 commercial tests

• Beauregard – 10 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 114 commercial tests

• West Feliciana – 10 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 9 state tests | 94 commercial tests

• Bienville – 8 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 3 state tests | 11 commercial tests

• Concordia – 8 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 27 commercial tests

• Vernon – 7 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 346 commercial tests

• Catahoula – 5 case(s) | 1 death(s) | 1 state tests | 9 commercial tests

• Franklin – 5 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 10 state tests | 82 commercial tests

• Grant – 5 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 1 state tests | 36 commercial tests

• Jackson – 4 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 15 state tests | 293 commercial tests

• Morehouse – 4 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 5 state tests | 15 commercial tests

• Natchitoches – 4 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 11 state tests | 112 commercial tests

• Richland – 4 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 2 state tests | 104 commercial tests

• Sabine – 4 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 3 state tests | 40 commercial tests

• La Salle – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 9 state tests | 68 commercial tests

• Winn – 2 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 3 state tests | 40 commercial tests

• Caldwell – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 4 state tests | 30 commercial tests

• East Carroll – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 22 commercial tests

• Madison – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 2 commercial tests

• Red River – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 23 state tests | 27 commercial tests

• St. Helena – 1 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 1 state tests | 64 commercial tests

• Cameron – 0 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 9 commercial tests

• Tensas – 0 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 0 commercial tests

• West Carroll – 0 case(s) | 0 death(s) | 0 state tests | 11 commercial tests