Louisiana sees a 42% increase in confirmed coronavirus cases as of the noon report, but Governor Edwards cautions that number is a reflection of a backlog of test results that were just reported.
Edwards says some of the over 2,700 new cases reported today were just recently discovered, but most of them were older cases.
“The vast majority of them are going to be tests that have been done over a number of days and the vast majority of these patients would have been told a couple of days ago, three, four days ago,” says Edwards.
About 51,000 COVID tests have been conducted in Louisiana between state and private labs, 47,000 of which were in private labs.
The state reported 37 new deaths as well, bringing our total to 310 COVID fatalities. Edwards says the 9,150 total cases should be a wakeup call for anyone still doubting the pandemic’s severity.
“We just have a lot more COVID-19 than we previously thought, and it is true that we have a population that is on average sicker than those in most states,” says Edwards.
1,639 COVID patients are hospitalized, with 507 on ventilators, an increase of 17 from yesterday.
The Governor says the recent spike in cases is not evidence that the shelter in place order is failing. He says it will likely take until sometime next week to see our curve flatten as a result of the decision.
“Mitigation does work, and social distancing works, the stay at home order is imperative and we are going to extend that through the month of April,” says Edwards.
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