LUY-Development

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  • Louisiana Glass, 3D Artists Making Ventilator Splitters, Face Shields

    Louisiana Glass, 3D Artists Making Ventilator Splitters, Face Shields

    The artists are creating the pieces for medical professionals to use when personal protection equipment and ventilators have run out and it’s a matter of life or death, time and urgency

    SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — Sanctuary Arts School and Glass Studio, in Shreveport, is leading a statewide initiative to donate emergency-use equipment to hospital workers and first responders caring for coronavirus COVID-19 patients.

    Ark-La-Tex 3D Technology, also in Shreveport, is collaborating with the nonprofit to produce 3D printed attachments for face shields. Sanctuary will be distributing splitters for ventilators which would allow multiple patients to use one machine.

    Hospitals across the United States have declared the need for more equipment to protect their medical staff and care for patients with COVID-19.

    The artists are creating the pieces for medical professionals to use when personal protection equipment and ventilators have run out and it’s a matter of life or death, time and urgency, said Eric Hess, co-founder of Sanctuary Arts School and Glass Studio.

    “In a time of emergency, you do what you need to do to protect your medical community and protect the patients,” Hess said. “These doctors don’t have the supplies and are basically doing whatever they need to do to survive and continue to provide the best care they can in the community.”

    MAKE GLASS IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

    The concept is spurred from a 2006 study, “A Single Ventilator for Multiple Simulated Patients to Meet Disaster Surge” by medical professionals Greg Neyman and Charlene Babcock Irvin for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

    The study concluded: “A single ventilator may be quickly modified to ventilate four simulated adults for a limited time. The volumes delivered in this simulation should be able to sustain four 70-kg individuals. While further study is necessary, this pilot study suggests significant potential for the expanded use of a single ventilator during cases of disaster surge involving multiple casualties with respiratory failure.”

    Hess was in self-quarantine when a friend shared information about a glass artist making ventilator splitters in Boulder, Colorado. After further research and discussion, Hess and his business partner, Michelle Pennington, decided to make the emergency supplies would be a way to help and possibly save lives.

    “Glass artists all over the country now are starting to develop these,” Hess said.

    The splitter is a Y-shaped attachment made from durable, medical-grade glass rods or tubes using the framework technique. Splitters connect to ventilator hoses and may supply oxygen to two to four patients at once and may be used multiple times.

    Ark-La-Tex 3D Technology is using a heavy-duty, biodegradable plastic to create headpieces that connects to a clear face shield. The designers will add the clear face shield, as well, to deliver a completed shield, said Matt Hopper, co-owner.

    Several orders are in motion for Louisiana hospitals as the medical industry prepares for the worst as cases of coronavirus persist.

    William Breaux is the manager of respiratory care at West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, outside of New Orleans. He and fellow staff and board members are considering alternatives in the case of a shortage and plan to test the glass ventilator splitter.

    “This is going to give us another option if we don’t have enough ventilators,” Breaux said.

    In a hypothetical situation, if there is one ventilator left, a doctor may have to tell a 70-year-old patient that the last ventilator is going to a 27-year-old patient, Breaux said. The splitter is to avoid the worst-case scenario.

    “It’s better than going, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have a ventilator for you and you’re going to die,’” said Breaux. “It may come to that. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

    It will be up to the medical facilities to determine if the products are something they can use. It’s a novel concept and they must consider liability; however, the pandemic has called for unprecedented measures.

    “This is what we call thinking outside the box,” Breaux said. “This is not something that probably would be approved.”

    A physician will have to be willing to try it in an emergency circumstance, which has a high probability during the pandemic, he said.

    On March 26, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the approval of a policy allowing two coronavirus patients to use a single ventilator. The New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s split-ventilation protocol was approved by the New York State Department of Health, according to ABC News.

    Although controversial, it’s better than nothing when it comes down to saving a patient’s life.

    “It’s not approved but we’re doing a lot of things that we wouldn’t normally do because of what’s going on,” Breaux said.

    MEDICAL SUPPLIES AND DEMAND

    In addition to the splitters, the Louisiana artists are creating face shields using 3D-printed frames.

    There are more than 3,000 out for order, including equipment for first responders and service professionals, such as firefighters, police, EMTs, social workers, and senior living staff throughout the state. Hess expects requests will quickly top 30,000 items.

    Orders include 200 face shields for LSU anesthesiologists with up to 6,000 needed to supply all the doctors, Hess said. Two orders of 200 and 250 face shields will be sent to groups of nurses in New Orleans.

    The orders continue to come in and the artists are stepping up production to meet the demand, and possibly extend services to hospitals outside of the state.

    New Orleans is a high priority as they have a higher number of COVID-19 cases and facing a shortage of equipment, Hess said.

    Sanctuary enlisted flameworkers throughout Louisiana to make the splitters—and possibly other glass-based items needed by the medical community during the coronavirus pandemic.

    Flameworking is different from glass blowing. The artists make the splitters by hand using a miniature flame and glass to manipulate the medical-grade borosilicate glass. The technique allows the artist to be precise in the glasswork, Hess said.

    Ark-La-Tex 3D Technology has four machines in production in its shop and a fellow 3D print designer is loaning another two to three printers. Bossier Parish Community College’s Division of Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Louisiana State University-Shreveport’s Technology Lab will produce some of the items using several of their printers. About a dozen machines will be going at one time, Hopper said. The goal is to have hundreds made hourly to meet demands, Hess said.

    “The more 3D printers we have the more we can produce these items,” Hess said.

    In the outreach initiative, medical professions are asked for a list of other needed items, so the artist may determine if they can assist in making other products.

    “We also have the ability to print other parts as needed. We’re on standby depending on what the hospitals and doctors are asking for,” Hopper said.

    The equipment is of no cost to the hospitals. All artists are donating their time, labor, and materials.

    Public donations are requested to continue production. Proceeds will be used to cover glass and plastic material and distribution costs.

    “We’re just trying to make sure the artists don’t deplete their funds by buying the glass and the plastic and the materials they need to produce the (equipment) for the hospitals,” Hess said.

    Ark-La-Tex 3D Technology has worked with medical professionals before on projects. The team has partnered with Shriners Hospital for Children in Shreveport to make a couple of 3D printed prosthetic hands, Hopper said. The local company also strategized how to create 3D scans of amputee parts to transform into 3D models to create a form-fitting cast that can be then be used for prosthetics, such as arms and legs.

    The project is outside of Sanctuary’s traditional functions, but Hess is driven to support those on the front lines of the pandemic.

    “I’m really worried about the mental situation in the future of these doctors,” Hess said. “Imagine being somewhere in medical care and not only are you concerned about you and bringing these diseases home to your family, but you’re there and you run out of a ventilator and all of a sudden someone’s gasping for air and you can’t help them. You have no more ventilators. I can’t even begin to imagine what these people in the medical community are going to have to deal with emotionally.”

    Donations may be sent to Sanctuary Arts School and Glass Studio via PayPal.

    By TIANA KENNELL, The Shreveport Times

     

  • Louisiana Shrimp Association Donates Shrimp To Food Pantry

    Louisiana Shrimp Association Donates Shrimp To Food Pantry

    A food pantry in New Orleans has received nearly 2,500 pounds of shrimp to help families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Second Harvest Food Bank is the recipient of the donation, announced Friday by Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. The donation, which will cover a few pounds each for families, was given by Ronnie Anderson and David and Kim Chauvin, owners of Bluewater Shrimp Company, based in Dulac, Louisiana.

    “I’ve always told people outside Louisiana that when they are here, we will treat them like family. This donation is an example of how we in Louisiana treat each other like family with leaders in the Louisiana shrimp industry stepping up to help in this time of need,” Nungesser said.

    Second Harvest supports more than 700 community partners and programs across 23 parishes, distributing more than 32 million meals to more than 210,000 people annually, according to its website.

    Nungesser said he will encourage state government to also purchase all excess inventories of Louisiana shrimp to send to the Second Harvest Food Bank. That move, he said, follows his earlier request to Louisiana’s congressional delegation to include Louisiana Gulf Coast seafood products on a list of approved purchases for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Doing that, he said, will help the state’s seafood industry which produces $2.4 billion in product annually. One in every 70 jobs in the state is related to the seafood industry, he said.

  • Louisiana Spillway May Open For Record 3rd Consecutive Year

    Louisiana Spillway May Open For Record 3rd Consecutive Year

    The Corps said Tuesday’s announcement was the result of an unexpectedly high forecast for the river’s crest

    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A major flood control structure on the Mississippi River may have to soon be opened up to ease pressure on New Orleans levees, federal authorities said Tuesday.

    The river is expected to crest above 17 feet (5.2 meters) at a key New Orleans gauge as early as Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release.

    That would likely lead to the opening of a structure that diverts water through the Bonnet Carré Spillway. It would be the first time the structure has been used three years in a row to keep the river from damaging New Orleans’ levees.

    The spillway was created to limit the river’s rush past New Orleans, keeping it below 1.25 million cubic feet (35,400 cubic meters) per second. But opening the spillway has environmental effects, sending river water and the pollutants it carries into brackish Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans and the Mississippi Sound, dropping their normal salinity levels.

    Two extended openings of the structure last year were blamed by Mississippi authorities for feeding toxic algae blooms and killing oysters, dolphins and other sea life. The U.S. Commerce Department declared an economic disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama because of “extreme flooding events in the Gulf of Mexico.”

    A federal lawsuit filed in Mississippi in December by several cities, counties and groups accuses the corps and commission of violating federal law by opening the spillway more frequently. They say the defendants hurt wildlife and localities by opening it for prolonged periods of time without considering the consequences.

    Joe Spraggins, who heads the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, told The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi, that he hopes the Bonnet Carré will be opened for fewer days this year. He said damage would be less if the spillway could be closed by the end of April. He expects problems if the fresh water flow continues as the sound grows warmer.

    The Corps said Tuesday’s announcement was the result of an unexpectedly high forecast for the river’s crest. The statement stressed that the forecast could change.

  • Son: Jazz Great Ellis Marsalis Jr. Dead At 85 From Pneumonia Brought On By COVID-19

    Son: Jazz Great Ellis Marsalis Jr. Dead At 85 From Pneumonia Brought On By COVID-19

    Four of Ellis’s six sons are accomplished musicians.

    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ellis Marsalis Jr., the jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical clan, has died after battling pneumonia brought on by the new coronavirus, one of his six sons said late Wednesday. He was 85.

    “Pneumonia was the actual thing that caused his demise. But it was pneumonia brought on by COVID-19,” Ellis Marsalis III confirmed in an Associated Press phone interview.

    He said he drove Sunday from Baltimore to be with his father as he was hospitalized in Louisiana, which has been hit hard by the outbreak. Others in the family spent time with him, too.

    Four of the jazz patriarch’s six sons are musicians: Wynton, trumpeter, is America’s most prominent jazz spokesman as artistic director of jazz at New York’s Lincoln Center. Branford, saxophonist, led The Tonight Show band and toured with Sting. Delfeayo, a trombonist, is a prominent recording producer and performer. And Jason, a percussionist, has made a name for himself with his own band and as an accompanist. Ellis III, who decided music wasn’t his gig, is a photographer-poet in Baltimore.

    “He went out the way he lived: embracing reality,” Wynton Marsalis tweeted, alongside pictures of his father.

    In a statement, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said of the man who continued to perform regularly until December: “Ellis Marsalis was a legend. He was the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz. He was a teacher, a father, and an icon — and words aren’t sufficient to describe the art, the joy and the wonder he showed the world.”

    Because Marsalis opted to stay in New Orleans for most of his career, his reputation was limited until his sons became famous and brought him the spotlight, along with new recording contracts and headliner performances on television and tour.

    “He was like the coach of jazz. He put on the sweatshirt, blew the whistle and made these guys work,” said Nick Spitzer, host of public radio’s American Routes and a Tulane University anthropology professor.

    The Marsalis “family band” seldom played together when the boys were younger but went on tour in 2003 in a spinoff of a family celebration, which became a PBS special when the elder Marsalis retired from teaching at the University of New Orleans.

    Harry Connick Jr., one of his students at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, was a guest. He’s one of many now-famous jazz musicians who passed through Marsalis’ classrooms. Others include trumpeters Nicholas Payton and Terence Blanchard, saxophonists Donald Harrison and Victor Goines, and bassist Reginald Veal.

    Marsalis was born in New Orleans, son of the operator of a hotel where he met touring black musicians who couldn’t stay at the segregated downtown hotels where they performed. He played saxophone in high school; he also played piano by the time he went to Dillard University.

    Although New Orleans was steeped in traditional jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll was the new sound in the 1950s, Marsalis preferred bebop and modern jazz.

    Spitzer described Marsalis as a “modernist in a town of traditionalists.”

    “His great love was jazz a la bebop — he was a lover of Thelonious Monk and the idea that bebop was a music of freedom. But when he had to feed his family, he played R&B and soul and rock ‘n’ roll on Bourbon Street,” Spitzer said.

    The musician’s college quartet included drummer Ed Blackwell, clarinetist Alvin Batiste and saxophonist Harold Battiste, playing modern.

    Ornette Coleman was in town at the time. In 1956, when Coleman headed to California, Marsalis and the others went along, but after a few months Marsalis returned home. He told the New Orleans Times-Picayune years later, when he and Coleman were old men, that he never figured out what a pianist could do behind the free form of Coleman’s jazz.

    Back in New Orleans, Marsalis joined the Marine Corps and was assigned to accompany soloists on the service’s weekly TV programs on CBS in New York. There, he said, he learned to handle all kinds of music styles.

    Returning home, he worked at the Playboy Club and ventured into running his own club, which went bust. In 1967 trumpeter Al Hirt hired him. When not on Bourbon Street, Hirt’s band appeared on national TV — headline shows on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, among others.

    Marsalis got into education about the same time, teaching improvisation at Xavier University in New Orleans. In the mid-1970s, he joined the faculty at the New Orleans magnet high school and influenced a new generation of jazz musicians.

    When asked how he could teach something as free-wheeling as jazz improvisation, Marsalis once said, “We don’t teach jazz, we teach students.”

    In 1986 he moved to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. In 1989, the University of New Orleans lured him back to set up a jazz studies program.

    Marsalis retired from UNO in 2001 but continued performing, particularly at Snug Harbor, a small club that anchored the city’s contemporary jazz scene — frequently backing young promising musicians.

    His melodic style, with running improvisations in the right hand, has been described variously as romantic, contemporary, or simply “Louisiana jazz.” He was always on acoustic piano, never electric, and even in interpreting old standards there’s a clear link to the driving bebop chords and rhythms of his early years.

    He founded a record company, ELM, but his recording was limited until his sons became famous. After that he joined them and others on mainstream labels and headlined his own releases, many full of his own compositions.

    He often played at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. And for more than three decades he played two 75-minute sets every Friday night at Snug Harbor until he decided it was exhausting. Even then, he still performed on occasion as a special guest.

    On Wednesday night, Ellis III recalled how his father taught him the meaning of integrity before he even knew the word.

    He and Delfeayo, neither of them yet 10, had gone to hear their father play at a club. Only one man — sleeping and drunk — was in the audience for the second set. The boys asked why they couldn’t leave.

    “He looked at us and said, ‘I can’t leave. I have a gig.’ While he’s playing, he said, ‘A gig is a deal. I’m paid to play this set. I’m going to play this set. It doesn’t matter that nobody’s here.’ ”

    Marsalis’ wife, Dolores, died in 2017. He is survived by his sons Branford, Wynton, Ellis III, Delfeayo, Mboya and Jason.

  • Churchgoers Flock To Hear Louisiana Pastor Despite Virus Ban

    Churchgoers Flock To Hear Louisiana Pastor Despite Virus Ban

    “The whole situation just puts everyone at risk.”

    CENTRAL, La. (AP) — Buses and cars filled a Louisiana church parking lot for another service Tuesday evening as worshippers flocked to hear a Louisiana pastor who is facing misdemeanor charges for holding services despite a ban on gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    A few protesters turned out, too, including a man shouting through a bullhorn against those gathering at the Life Tabernacle Church in the city of Central, where pastor Tony Spell has been holding services. Another demonstrator held up a sign reading: “God don’t like stupid.”

    Afterward, people began leaving the church, some chatting outside the front doors, and many appearing to not be adhering to social distancing recommendations to remain at least six feet (2 meters) apart. Hugs and handshakes were shared freely as people said their goodbyes and departed.

    Hours earlier on Tuesday, Spell was issued a summons for holding services previously at the church in violation of the governor’s order banning gatherings.

    “Come out, Tony. Come tell us why you’re endangering people’s lives,” the man with the bullhorn shouted Tuesday evening, directing his words at the pastor.

    Flanked by some of his congregation, including children and older people, Spell emerged from the church later Tuesday night and said he is going to keep his church doors open. He said he doesn’t consider keeping his doors open any different than keeping the doors of Walmart open. Spell also compared going to church to going to the hospital, but for spiritual healing.

    “We are needy people. Our souls are lost,” he said. “We need help, and the church is the salvation center of the soul, the sanctuary where we come together and meet.”

    Around Louisiana, more than 5,200 people have confirmed virus infections, and 239 state residents have died, according to the Louisiana health department.

    The order from Gov. John Bel Edwards prohibits gatherings of more than 10 people, said East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore. Each violation carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine, Moore said.

    “The whole situation just puts everyone at risk,” Moore said. “We ask everyone to abide by the governor’s order.”

    The governor has urged church leaders instead to continue their services online or in smaller groups to lessen the risks.

    Spell had previously confirmed he was facing misdemeanor charges. He said when reached by phone earlier that he was read his rights and fingerprinted — but the summons wasn’t deterring him. He said he would continue to defy the ban.

    “We’re still here and still assembling and having church,” Spell said. Asked why he was defying the governor’s orders, he said, “Because the Lord told us to.”

    Asked whether he was concerned about the pandemic, Spell said: “I’m no more concerned than I would be going to Walmart or Home Depot.”

    Moore said earlier that additional charges could be issued if Spell continued to disobey Edwards’ ban on gatherings. He said the pastor wasn’t booked into jail earlier because parish officials are trying to lessen the jail population amid the risks of the highly contagious virus.

    Earlier, Central Assistant Police Chief Darren Sibley had said officers had no plans to try to stop Tuesday night’s prayer service. But he said they would “document everything and forward everything to the district attorney.”

    “He is doing this for publicity,” Sibley said of Spell. “He is putting the citizens of the community at risk. And he is putting the people in his congregation at risk.”

    Edwards has issued a “stay at home” order that he said he will extend through the end of April to combat the spread of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, which is threatening to overwhelm hospitals with patients.

    For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia and be fatal.

    Edwards said Tuesday that law enforcement authorities had been “extremely patient” with Spell and had “done everything that they could” to get him to comply with the governor’s order before issuing the summons.

    “I’m going to appeal to them one more time: Please stop what you’re doing,” Edwards said. “The overwhelming majority of our faith leaders have found other ways to engage with their parishioners.”

    By STACEY PLAISANCE, MELINDA DESLATTE and CHEVEL JOHNSON
    Associated Press
  • Hundreds At Louisiana Church Flout COVID-19 Gatherings Ban

    Hundreds At Louisiana Church Flout COVID-19 Gatherings Ban

    More than 3,300 Louisiana residents have been diagnosed with the disease.

    CENTRAL, La. (AP) — Hundreds of people flouted Louisiana’s COVID-19 ban on gatherings, coming on buses and in personal vehicles to the first of three Sunday services at their church a day after New Orleans police broke up a funeral gathering of about 100 people.

    An estimated 500 people of all ages filed inside the mustard-yellow and beige Life Tabernacle church in Central, a city of nearly 29,000 outside Baton Rouge.

    More than 3,300 Louisiana residents have been diagnosed with the disease caused by a new coronavirus, and nearly 140 of them have died. Deaths include that of the first federal prison inmate — a man with “serious preexisting conditions” who was being held in Oakdale, Lousiana, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said Saturday.

    Assistant ministers and worshippers outside the front doors and in the parking lot at Life Tabernacle told media to leave, saying cameras would not be allowed on the property and worshippers had been told not to talk to reporters. They went inside without further comment.

    Across the street, neighbors gathered in a driveway, carefully staying at least 6 feet (about two meters) apart.

    Paul Quinn, a resident of Central who lives near the church, says this is a health hazard.

    “Other congregations are using the Internet, Skype, and other safe ways to congregate. Why can’t they? What makes them so special?” said Quinn. “I wish state police would come out and do something. This is above our little local police level. The state needs to get involved. If they get out of church and go to the grocery store, it’s a serious health hazard. They don’t know how many people they’re affecting, and they don’t seem to care. That’s a problem.”

    The virus has killed seven of more than 160 people diagnosed with the disease in East Baton Rouge Parish, according to state figures released Sunday.

    In New Orleans, police broke up a “funeral repast” of about 100 people Saturday afternoon, issuing a warrant for a 28-year-old man who refused to shut it down and giving the band leader a summons, a news release said. Another statement from the department said several complaints about that event were among more than 300 received in the past week about violations of a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people.

    More than 1,300 of the COVID-19 diagnoses and 73 of the deaths have been in New Orleans, and Gov. John Bel Edwards repeated on Sunday’s national news talk shows what he’s been saying for days: the city’s hospitals are likely to run out of ventilators by April 4 and of hospital bed space by April 10.

  • Coronavirus Reaches 2 Louisiana Prisons As Cases Increase

    Coronavirus Reaches 2 Louisiana Prisons As Cases Increase

    No inmates have tested positive for the virus, the corrections department said.

    BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two workers at Louisiana state prisons have tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing some inmates into quarantine and heightening concerns that the tightly packed populations are at risk for an outbreak in a state where the virus’s death toll exceeded 100 Friday.

    The Louisiana Department of Corrections announced the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a statement Thursday evening that didn’t name the two prisons where the employees worked, citing security concerns. The workers had limited contact with other staff and inmates and were isolated at home, the agency said. No inmates have tested positive for the virus, the corrections department said, and inmates who may have been exposed to the workers are quarantined.

    “I can assure you that we’re doing everything that we can in order to protect the people that we have in our custody in our state’s prisons,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Friday. “It is a challenge, just like it’s a challenge for everybody across the state of Louisiana.”

    Civil rights groups have urged Edwards to take additional public health precautionary measures in Louisiana’s prison facilities, to protect the people housed in state custody and educate the staff about how to avoid disease spread.

    “Imprisoned and detained people are highly vulnerable to outbreaks of contagious illnesses such as COVID-19. They are housed in close quarters and are often in poor health,” the ACLU of Louisiana, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other organizations wrote in a letter to the Democratic governor earlier this month.

    Louisiana has discontinued in-person visits from family and friends of prisoners, in an effort to limit the risk of virus spread. Workers entering the prisons are screened for symptoms and aren’t allowed in if they have a fever, Edwards said.

    Louisiana has surpassed 2,700 people known to be infected, with 119 residents dead from COVID-19 — an increase of 36 deaths from a day earlier, according to the health department. Edwards said Louisiana has the third-highest rate of virus cases per capita and the second-highest death rate per capita, with the New Orleans region on track to run out of ventilators to care for the hardest-hit patients by the first week of April.

    “We have put in many days ago orders for 12,000 ventilators,” Edwards said. “To date, we have received exactly 192.”

    The number of virus patients requiring ventilators continued to rise Friday. The health department said 773 infected people were hospitalized, with 270 of them needing ventilation. That’s up from 239 patients needing ventilators a day earlier.

    Although most people recover and many suffer only mild symptoms, COVID-19 can cause serious illness including respiratory problems for some, including the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. The disease is highly contagious.

    In new data about Louisiana’s COVID-19 deaths, Edwards said early analysis shows 41% of the people who have died were diabetic, 31% had kidney disease and 28% were obese. In a state with high rates of obesity and diabetes, those numbers suggested Louisiana residents could be particularly at risk for some of the virus’s worst impacts.

    While Louisiana’s virus hot spot remained New Orleans, troubling signs emerged of a spike in cases in the Shreveport/Bossier City area. The state health department identified “clusters” of the virus in eight nursing and retirement homes around Louisiana.

    Florida joined Texas in requiring travelers from the New Orleans area to go into mandatory quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, but Florida went further — including travelers from anywhere in Louisiana. Edwards didn’t raise objections, saying he was encouraging people from Louisiana to stay home and wouldn’t second-guess other governors’ decisions.

    In New Orleans, state and city leaders were scrambling to create more hospital space to handle the expected surge in infected patients. The city’s convention center will serve as an overflow site, with the first 120-bed unit ready by the end of the weekend, Edwards said. Two 250-bed federal field hospitals will be set up at the convention center, Edwards said.

    Medical students were getting credentialed early, so hospitals can quickly hire them and fill staffing shortages.

    With widespread business shutdowns because of the “stay-at-home” order, Louisiana’s economic development agency created a state hotline for business questions related to COVID-19.

  • Concordia Parish Reports First Case Of COVID-19 Coronavirus

    Concordia Parish Reports First Case Of COVID-19 Coronavirus

    Patient Receiving Treatment In Mississippi Hospital

    Official Statement from the Concordia Parish Office Of Homeland Security:

    This is the first case that has been reported for Concordia Parish.  We do understand that there are a lot of eyes on Concordia Parish at this time in relation to how Concordia Parish handles this situation. The Concordia Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness has verified with the Director of the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals that all policies/procedures and guidelines set forth by the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals and the CDC are being followed and have been in place in preparation for a positive COVID-19 case in Concordia Parish.  The Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals and GOHSEP has done a tremendous job in keeping all OEP Offices in the Parish up to date with any and all changes in policies and procedures in preparation for this event.

    Concordia Parish Mayors have worked well in conjunction with the OEP Office in combating the spread of the COVID-19 Virus in Concordia Parish.  Communication has been flowing from LDH and GOHSEP through the OEP Office and has been getting disbursed to all the Mayors, Police Chiefs, Fire Chiefs, Hospitals, Home Health Agencies, and EMS in through out the Parish.  I can say that all of that leadership in Concordia Parish has bene preparing for this.  It has been several times the comment has been made “It is not a matter of if, but when”.  We are asking the public to take the spread of this virus serious.  It is the position of the Concordia Parish Office of Homeland Security not to cause fear, hysteria, or panic due to the threat of the COVID-19 virus, but encourages the public to be well informed and take the “stay at home order” seriously, this is not the time to become complacent.  I am very proud of our Parish and I am extremely thankful that the leadership of Concordia Parish is working so well together in keeping the public informed, and in being vigilant in their efforts to stop the spread of this disease.  Stopping the wide spread of this disease is not a “one man show”, it is going to take the efforts of not just all of the leadership in the Parish, but also the residents of the Parish.

    No further information is available at this time

    Thank You,

    Timothy Vanier

    OEP Director Concordia Parish

  • Louisiana Fire Marshal Declares State Wide Burn Ban

    Louisiana Fire Marshal Declares State Wide Burn Ban

    Ban In Place Until The Order Is Lifted

    The office of Louisiana Fire Marshal H. “Butch” issued this statement Tuesday afternoon:

     

    CEASE AND DESIST ORDER

    Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency in response to the outbreak
    of the respiratory disease, coronavirus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 has and will
    continue to require additional response efforts from the state’s emergency responders.

    To assist in preventing potential fire-related dangers during this state of emergency and to
    diminish any airborne irritants caused by burning, the State Fire Marshal hereby orders a
    statewide cease and desist order for all private burning, pursuant to his authority under R.S.
    40:1602. Private burning shall only be allowed by permission of the local fire department
    or local government.

    This order shall not apply to prescribed burns by the Department of Agriculture and
    Forestry, by those trained and certified by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, or
    by those who conduct prescribed burning as a “generally accepted agriculture practice” as
    defined by the Louisiana Right to Farm Law.

    This order is effective March 25, 2020 at 8:00 a.m., and shall remain in effect until
    rescinded.

  • The Miss-Lou Teddy Bear Hunt Is On!

    The Miss-Lou Teddy Bear Hunt Is On!

    You can go on a Teddy Bear hunt!

    Miss-Lou residents have come up with a great way for families to get their kids out of the house for a little while, AND still maintain social distancing!

    A Teddy Bear Hunt!

    A Facebook Group has even been created to help you get involved.

    Here is how it works:

    Let’s put our teddy bears into our front windows, then add your street and town here!

    Parents can take antsy kids on a bear hunt, and when they honk in front of bear houses, people inside stay connected!

    Share and invite your friends!

    People all over are joining in the fun!

    We love it!