Governor John Bel Edwards, at his Wednesday afternoon press conference, paints a grim picture of just how long, and how severe the coronavirus epidemic could get in Louisiana as the nation braces for an estimated 100,000-20,000 COVID deaths.
The governor plans to keep the state’s stay at home order through April 30th, but Edwards says life will not return to normal for a long time.
“It all depends on when the first really effective and proven therapeutic treatment comes online, and it depends on when we actually have a vaccine,” said Edwards
He adds it also depends on when we can begin testing people to see if they have anti-coronavirus antibodies that will give them natural immunity.
Edwards warns even if the statewide stay at home order is lifted in the near future, other countries have shown there’s no guarantee it won’t be needed again.
“They removed some of the restrictions and immediately saw a spike in cases and had to put them back in place. That could happen here,” said Edwards.
Current projections have the New Orleans region running out of ventilators by April 6th. Edwards says after that date new patients who need one will be put on non-ICU standard equipment.
“It’s not optimal but before we run completely out we are going to see individuals on breathing devices that have been retrofitted or modified in some fashion so they can function as a ventilator,” said Edwards.
About a third of all patients who will be admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 are expected to need a ventilator.
Edwards says even in best-case projections many Louisianans will die because they can’t get the care they need because even with the use of non-standard equipment the numbers are projected to exceed what we can provide.
“It’s just a matter of time then before you eclipse even your capacity as you have ramped it up with all of these other devices, and those individuals are not going to have ventilators, and they are going to need them,” says Edwards.
Louisiana already is home to 4 of the top 6 parishes/counties in per capita COVID deaths.
And the state saw another big jump in deaths and coronavirus cases Wednesday with 34 more fatalities and 11-hundred more positive cases. The total death toll is up to 273.
Louisiana has lost its first healthcare worker to the virus. Larrice Anderson worked as a nurse at New Orleans East Hospital. She passed away after testing positive for COVID-19.
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