Virus cases top 500 in Louisiana, new testing sites open
Melinda Deslatte | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 8 months AGO
A boarded business is seen boarded up on Bourbon Street, usually bustling with tourists and revelers, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A man drinks while riding his bicycle down a nearly deserted Bourbon Street, which is normally bustling with tourism and revelry, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The nearly deserted Bourbon Street, which is normally bustling with tourists and revelers, stands in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A view of the nearly deserted Bourbon Street, which is normally bustling with tourists and revelers, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A view of the crowdless Bourbon Street, which is normally bustling with tourists and revelers, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards speaks to reporters, saying a surge in new coronavirus cases could push Louisiana past its capacity to deliver health care in as few as seven days, on Thursday, March 19, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte)
People walk past a boarded-up strip club that is normally open, on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A view of the nearly deserted scene on Bourbon Street, which is normally bustling with tourists and revelers, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
People pick up takeout food in a restaurant on Bourbon Street, which is normally bustling with tourists and revelers, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell have ordered all restaurants and bars to close except for takeout, and asked residents to remain home and maintain social distancing from others when outside, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Additional testing centers for the new coronavirus ran out of the day's supply of tests within hours of opening Friday in New Orleans, one of the nation's hot spots for the virus.
Four more state residents died, including the first victim outside of southeastern Louisiana, as doctors worried about dwindling supplies and an expected spike in patients.
Also Friday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell bolstered her earlier efforts to prevent gatherings that could result in the virus spreading with a “stay at home mandate.” She said at a news conference that people should leave their homes only for “critical needs” such as food or grocery runs or doctor visits. Restaurants can continue to offer takeout food.
“You can go outside for recreation but do not do so in a group,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, the city's health director.
Tests were available at New Orleans' two new drive-thru sites, in the parking lots of a local theater and a university arena. But they initially were being offered only to health care workers and first responders showing symptoms consistent with the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus, according to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell's office. The sites are supplied by the federal government.
Both locations, with materials for 100 tests a day, shut down by early afternoon — several hours earlier than advertised — after reaching their day's testing capacity early. They were expected to reopen Saturday.
More than 500 people in Louisiana tested positive for the virus by Friday morning, and 14 Louisiana residents have died from COVID-19, according to state health department data.
While more than three-quarters of positive tests were in the New Orleans area, cases of the virus were showing up in nearly every metropolitan region of the state, and in 28 of Louisiana's 64 parishes.
One of the deaths announced Friday by the state health department was a 38-year-old Catahoula Parish resident who had existing health problems, the first person known to die from the virus in central Louisiana — and the state's youngest recorded death from the virus.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, like other states' leaders, has offered dire warnings about the risk of health care shortages, if residents don't actively decrease contact with others. Edwards has closed schools, shuttered bars and gyms and limited restaurants to takeout and delivery.
The vast majority of people recover within weeks after catching the virus, and for most, it causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause severe illness requiring hospitalization.
Hospitals were canceling elective procedures and moving staff from other facilities to ready for increases in COVID-19 patients. Health care facilities in Louisiana, like counterparts around the nation, were having difficulty getting medical equipment.
Dr. Katherine Williams said she has the needed supplies in her Covington obstetrics and gynecology office right now. But she’s watching it dwindle — even toilet paper and paper towels are on back order for doctors.
As president of the Louisiana State Medical Society, Williams is hearing concerns from doctors around the state. Surgical masks are running low. Disinfectant wipes are running out. Gloves are difficult to find. Hospitals are rationing and sterilizing items they once tossed in the trash can after one use.
Williams is urging companies that produce masks, gloves and cleaning products to give health care workers a priority for getting those items. She said medical supply levels likely will reach critical lows by next week.
“The ability for us to care for those who are most sick is going to be diminished," Williams said.
The slow rate of testing — and the lag time in getting results — further stretched resources, said Paul Salles, president of the Louisiana Hospital Association. Hospitals were using protective gear for any patient who had symptoms consistent with COVID-19 until a test returned negative. With those test results taking up to seven days, Salles said: “We're just burning through equipment faster than expected.”
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Deslatte reported from Baton Rouge, La.
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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
ARTICLES BY KEVIN MCGILL
Federal judge blocks Biden's pause on new oil, gas leases
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water was blocked Tuesday by a federal judge in Louisiana who ordered that plans continue for lease sales that were delayed for the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska waters “and all eligible onshore properties.”
Federal judge blocks Biden's pause on new oil, gas leases
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water was blocked Tuesday by a federal judge in Louisiana who ordered that plans continue for lease sales that were delayed for the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska waters “and all eligible onshore properties.”
Federal judge blocks Biden's pause on new oil, gas leases
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water was blocked Tuesday by a federal judge in Louisiana who ordered that plans continue for lease sales that were delayed for the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska waters “and all eligible onshore properties.”