Governor Edwards officially extends the state’s stay at home order through at least April and says a model used by the White House predicts 1,834 Louisianans will die of COVID-19.
The Governor says the model is predicated on the idea that we continue mitigation measures through May, instead of the current reopening date of May 1st.
“The national model also says that we will reach our peak count of daily deaths in eight days with a death rate being about 76,” says Edwards.
310 people have died in Louisiana from COVID-19.
Edwards says to limit the death toll the state has already distributed 450 ventilators to hospitals since the start of the COVID crisis, but finding new ones at the moment is difficult.
“We are trying to source ventilators literally all over the world and the price has at least doubled on every ventilator that we are looking at just from what we were looking at three to four weeks ago,” says Edwards.
507 Louisiana COVID patients are currently on ventilators.
Edwards says we’re not seeing the kind of shelter in place compliance we would like in areas outside the big cities. He says if those rural areas don’t take this seriously now, they’ll be forced to take it seriously later.
“Everybody is going to take it seriously at some point and it is going to be when there is a death that is close to them. Well, wouldn’t it be better if we took it seriously so that that never has to happen?” asked Edwards.
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