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Presumed active cases of coronavirus in Louisiana fall more than 1,400

The number of presumed coronavirus recoveries is up more than 5,100 in the last week. 145,570 presumed recoveries leaves Louisiana with an estimated 8,130 active cases. That's about 1,400 fewer active cases than last week. Total cases throughout the pandemic are up 508 today, just under 159,000. Another 18 people died from COVID-19.Hospitalizations are up 11, at 678. It's the second consecutive day that the total number of hospitalized patients is up, but the total is below the 680 reported last weekend.

September 16, 2020

LA Economic Outlook estimates pandemic to cost the state 105,000 jobs

The Louisiana Economic Outlook estimates by 2022 Louisiana will have recovered only 90% of the 105,000 jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the report, it’s the worst downturn the state has experienced since the early 1980s.LSU Economist Dr. Loren Scott says the recovery will be more of a Nike Swoosh than a V.“When you look on the side of one of those Nike tennis shoes, you see that thing that goes down and heads out to the side, instead of going right straight up,” said Scott.The forecast calls for the state to recover 72,000 jobs in 2021 and another 21,000 in 2022. This will leave the state about 11,300 jobs short of recovering all the jobs lost from COVID-19.So what is driving the slow recovery? Scott says oil prices will only rise to 49 dollars a barrel by 2022, doing real damage to regions that have a lot of workers in the oil and gas industry.“We don’t have Houma and Lafayette recovering all of the jobs they’ve lost since the COVID started over the next two years, we think it’s going to take until 2023,” said Scott.The Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and Hammond regions are all projected to regain all of the jobs they lost by 2022, but the Shreveport-Bossier region, due to reliance on casinos, is only expected to get 70% of their 10,600 lost jobs back.The report was conducted before Hurricane Laura devastated southwest Louisiana, but Scott anticipates the region will see higher than expected growth due to all of the wind damage caused by the storm.“What you are going to see over the next year or so, tremendous amounts of insurance money flowing into Lake Charles to repair everything,” said Scott.Lake Charles was set to lose an estimated 7,000 jobs this year due to the pandemic, before the storm hit.

September 16, 2020

Monroe bar closed just 25 minutes after opening against Governor’s order

The Junkyard Bar in Monroe planned to open Tuesday against the Governor’s orders but was shut down just 25 minutes into service.Owner Lane Clark said with bills pilling up he had no choice but to try to open, or else he said he might just have to close his doors for good. ATF then arrived and told him he could either surrender his liquor license or be arrested if he served another beer.“You know it doesn’t do me any good to have a license if I can’t open anyway, so we are going to fight through it, we are going to keep fighting,” said Clark, who asked if other bar owners would be willing to follow his example.“You know it would nice if the rest of the bars in the state would start opening,” said Clark. “They are going to pull your license but your license is no good if you are not open anyway.”Clark estimated he only has about a month left in before he runs out of money for the business, and said his employees have now run out of unemployment and are struggling to make ends meet.Clark had publicized his reopening beforehand with local media, and said he had quite a bit of interest.“I was going to have probably 150-200 people that were going to come at some point and I had probably four people in here drinking a beer when they came in,” said Clark.A hearing has been set for September 30th in Baton Rouge.Governor Edwards has defended his decision to keep bars shuttered, pointing to guidance and requests from the White House Coronavirus Task Force that the state do so because of the high level of viral transmission still in Louisiana. Edwards and the Task Force say bars lead to lax judgment and promote social behaviors that can create super spreading events.Clark said it’s not right that bars seem to be just about the only business not allowed to operate right now. He also said it’s not fair that many restaurants have gotten into the bar business.“Restaurants around here are packed, people packed at the bar drinking,” said Clark.Under current state health guidelines, bars can open in parishes with less than a five percent positivity rate, which leaves only five parishes with that option. Those that can open have highly limited capacity limits and must stop serving by 10 PM.

September 16, 2020

Coronavirus deaths surpass 5,100

The Louisiana Department of Health reports 426 new cases of coronavirus today. It pushes the state's total to 158,318.Twenty-six reported deaths puts the state's total mortality at 5,108. A few more people in the hospital -- 667, three more than yesterday.

September 15, 2020

LSU has '3 or 4' players with COVID-19, Ed Orgeron says

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said Tuesday that currently three or four members of the football team have COVID-19, but added that the team, overall, is healthy. “Not a lot of guys in quarantine,” Orgeron said. “We’re probably better off than we’ve been all camp, right now, going into the season."“Obviously, we have to be really careful, but I think that Shelly and Mickey and Jack have done a tremendous job of keeping us on track and our guys feel good," Coach O concluded. Orgeron added that he believed most of the team has caught the coronavirus already.“Hopefully, they don’t catch it again and hopefully they are not out for games,” he said. With the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the potential for players to be out, Orgeron said he’s stressed to the team the importance of safety off the field and being prepared for it.“I told the team we need everybody,” he said. “There’s no telling what’s going to happen with the COVID. I think we’ve got a good handle on it, but once a kid gets it the next man gotta go up.”Orgeron said he felt the team has done a good job of adjusting to practicing during the pandemic so far.“We’ve got to make adjustments,” he said. “Two weeks ago, everybody on our offensive line except two or three guys were out. We adjusted very well.” The Tigers are currently set to open their 2020 SEC-only season Sept. 26 against Mississippi State in Tigers Stadium.

September 15, 2020

Fewer than 500 new coronavirus cases today

The Louisiana Department of Health today reports 497 new cases of coronavirus. Total confirmed cases are 157,947Seventeen more deaths means that 5,082 Louisiana residents have perished from COVID-19.The number of people in the hospital fighting the disease continues to improve: hospitalizations are down 16 today at 664.105 patients are on mechanical ventilators.

September 14, 2020

More than 1500 new coronavirus cases reported

After the day off on Saturday, reporting numbers for the Louisiana Department of Health show more than 1300 new cases of COVID-19 in the state with a total of 157,455 cases in all. A total of 33 people succumb to the viral infection bringing the state total 5065. But the good news is 43 fewer people are hospitalized and 10 fewer people are on mechanical ventilators.

September 13, 2020

Playing with no fans will be 'wack' but Saints focused on goals

The New Orleans Saints are set to open their season Sunday in an empty Mercedes-Benz Superdome due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Saints tackle Terron Armstead had pretty blunt assessment of what playing in an empty arena will be like: “Wack…” But while Saints players are disappointed, the team is focused on earning a victory Sunday when New Orleans hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday at 3:25 p.m.“You know, you love to see the fans interact with the fans. That energy…,” Armstead said. “…It's not just (us), we're not the only team that can't have fans. Just everybody is faced with this challenge. “We have to create our own energy. We know what we are playing for. That is ultimately what it is.”Throughout training camp the Saints spoke about the goal of winning a Super Bowl and despite this season being quite different due to the pandemic, the team is focusing on what it can control. “Ultimately, there's a rectangle field out there with stripes on it," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "We're playing a game that involves technique and discipline and the team that tackles and blocks and does the fundamentals best typically wins on Sunday."Knowing the team wouldn't have fans for much of the season, the Saints practiced twice in an empty Superdome. During the second workout, New Orleans played NFL's allotted amount of crowd noise over the speakers. "So it is what it is, but I will say the crowd noise that the league approved is nothing compared to what the dome sounds like," Saints running back Alvin Kamara said. "I feel like they kind of played us on that." Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore echoed his teammate saying that the atmosphere inside the Superdome can't be recreated but said the team has to focus on their goal."The Dome gets loud, you can barely hear it," Lattimore said. "It's not going to be anything like how it usually is. But no, it's not something that we can control. We just have go out there and play."

September 13, 2020

Phase 3 allows Louisiana bars to reopen, with conditions

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards on Friday afternoon laid out the specifics of how Phase Three of relaxing coronavirus restrictions will work.Most notably, bars, closed since mid-July, will be allowed to reopen. But they will be subject to several restrictions.First, they have to be in parishes that have no more than five percent of tests coming back positive over a two-week period. And unlike other businesses that will be allowed to go to 75 percent of their maximum occupancy, bars will be capped at 25 percent, or 50 patrons, whichever is fewer."Bars will be able to open at 25 percent capacity, up to 50 people total indoors," said Edwards. "Customers will have to be seated for tableside service only. In addition, they may have no more than 50 customers outdoors."Health officials say bars were the most common places for community spread that drove the state's coronavirus numbers up in June and July, after they were allowed to reopen in Phase 2. The spike caused Edwards in mid-July to order bars to close.No bars will be allowed to serve alcohol after 10:00 p.m., and customers must be out the door by 11:00 p.m. And parishes will have the final say on whether or not bars can open.Phase Three comes with other restrictions on alcohol. Restaurants and casinos will also be required to cease alcoholic beverage sales at 10:00 p.m., and sports venues that are allowed to reopen will be dry -- no alcohol sales at all.Most other businesses that are operating at 50 percent capacity will be allowed to expand to 75 percent, but social distancing must be observed, and masks must be worn. Casinos will remain at 50 percent of their maximum occupancy, and no more than 75 percent of their gaming tables or machines.

September 11, 2020

Phase 3 likely last update until a vaccine is ready, Governor says

When phase three of easing up on coronavirus pandemic restrictions begins, restaurants and other businesses that have been dealing with a limit of 50 percent of maximum occupancy throughout phase two will get to welcome more customers."We're going to go to 75 percent for the most part. Now, there's going to be some individual-type venues where we're not going to change," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told WWL's Newell Normand. "For the most part, it's going to be 75 percent, but with a requirement that they continue to social distance."The governor also pointed out that phase three is pretty much the final change, barring any regression to previous phases, and the mask mandate, occupancy percentages, and other guidelines are likely to stay in place, he said, "until we get past this.""I'm not sure where we go from phase three looking forward," Edwards said. "Nobody should expect another major change after this one, across the board with occupancy percentages and so forth, really until we kind of get past this."Edwards later outlined what Phase Three means during a Friday afternoon news conference. Most notably, bars, closed since mid-July, will be allowed to reopen. But they will be subject to several restrictions, among them, a 10:00 p.m. curfew.Phase Three comes with other restrictions on alcohol. Restaurants and casinos will also be required to cease alcoholic beverage sales at 10:00 p.m., and sports venues that are allowed to reopen will be dry -- no alcohol sales at all.Most other businesses that are operating at 50 percent capacity will be allowed to expand to 75 percent, but social distancing must be observed, and masks must be worn. Casinos will remain at 50 percent of their maximum occupancy, and no more than 75 percent of their gaming tables or machines.Wedding and party venues will be allowed to host 50 percent of their maximum occupancy, with a maximum of 250 people.The Louisiana Department of Health is also putting together a pilot program that will allow visitation at senior care facilities.

September 11, 2020

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