3-30-20
Louisiana’s governor says his orders closing many businesses and keeping people home ‘may well’ have to be extended past April 13. Gov. John Bel Edwards spoke as the numbers of Louisiana residents sickened by and dying from COVID-19 continue to rise. Meanwhile, a large church near Baton Rouge continues to flout a statewide ban on gatherings of more than 10 people. And New Orleans’ police chief says the department has received hundreds of complaints about gatherings.
THE LATEST UPDATE FROM THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH HAS LOUISIANA WITH THREE-THOUSAND, FIVE-HUNDRED-FORTY CASES OF CORONAVIRUS AND ONE-HUNDRED-FIFTY-ONE DEATHS. THERE ARE A TOTAL OF NINETY-NINE CASES IN ACADIANA, WITH LAFAYETTE HAVING MORE THAN HALF AT FIFTY INCLUDING ONE DEATH. ST. MARTIN PARISH HAS THIRTEEN CASE AND THREE DEATHS, IBERIA HAS ELEVEN CASES, ST. LANDRY IS NEXT WITH TEN, ACADIA PARISH HAS ONE DEATH OUT OF NINE CASE, EVANGELINE HAS FOUR AND VERMILLION PARISH HAS TWO WITH ONE DEATH.
CALCASIEU PARISH LEADS WITH WAY IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA WITH THIRTY-FIVE CASES, AND JUST ONE DEATH. ALLEN PARISH IS NEXT WITH NINE CASES. BEAUREGARD PARISH HAS FOUR CASES AND JEFF DAVIS HAS TWO. CAMERON PARISH IS ONE OF THE FEW PARISHES IN THE STATE WITHOUT A CORONAVIRUS CASE.
ACROSS THE COUNTRY, THERE ARE NEARLY 148 THOUSAND CASES. OUT OF THOSE TWO THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY NINE HAVE DIED, WHILE NEARLY TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED HAVE RECOVERED.
THE CORONAVIRUS SCREENING SITE AT THE CAJUNDOME WILL BE BACK OPEN LATER THIS MORNING. GERALD GREUNIG HAS MORE.
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SAINT MARTINVILLE IS CHANGING ITS HOURS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE DRIVE THRU AT CITY HALL. IT WILL BE OPEN ON MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS FROM EIGHT-THIRTY TO ONE EACH OF THOSE DAYS. THOSE WANTING TO PAY UTILITY BILLS OUTSIDE OF THOSE HOURS CAN USE THE NIGHT DEPOSITORY OR THE ONLINE KIOSK. THE ST. MARTINVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS CLOSED THEIR LOBBY TO THE PUBLIC.
VILLE PLATTE IS ENACTING A CURFEW BEGINNING TONIGHT THAT MAYOR JENNIFER VIDRINE SAYS WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED. THE CURFEW BEGINS AT NINE EACH NIGHT AND LASTS UNTIL SIX IN THE MORNING. HEALTH CARE WORKERS WILL BE EXCLUDED BUT MUST SHOW THEIR CREDENTIALS. VIDRINE SAYS THE CURFEW IS DESIGNED TO HELP STOP THE SPREAD OF THE CORONAVIRUS.
A FEDERAL PRISONER IN OAKDALE HAS DIED FROM THE CORONVIRUS. HE IS THE FIRST FEDERAL PRISONER TO DIE FROM THE VIRUS, ACCORDING TO THE U-S BUREAU OF PRISONS. THE PRISONER, PATRICK JONES, WHO WAS HOUSED AT
F-C-I OAKDALE ONE, HAD LONG TERM PREEXISTING CONDITIONS. HEALTH EXPERTS HAVE BEEN CONCERNED THAT PRISONS COULD BE EPICENTERS OF THE CORONAVIRUS BECAUSE IT’S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP PRISONERS SIX FEET FROM EACH OTHER.
Texas is ratcheting up restrictions on neighboring Louisiana, one of the growing hot spots for coronavirus in the nation. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that state troops will patrol highway entry points near the Louisiana border and require “everyone stopped” in those cars to self-isolate. The extent of how Texas troopers would patrol the state line was not immediately clear. Hours after Abbott’s announcement, traffic both in and out of Texas was freely moving along Interstate 10 near the Sabine River that divides Texas and Louisiana.
