03292020 COVID-19 Press Conference



GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: All right. This is going to be a little bit different than most of the press conferences I've done, but I want to thank you all for coming out this afternoon. We have some important information to share with you and the citizens of New Orleans and really all across the state of Louisiana. I do want to thank Mayor Cantrell, not just for being here, but for the hard work, the partnership that she and her team have put in throughout this public health emergency. And I know we still have a long ways to go. As you know, she and I just did a walkthrough of a temporary hospital facility that's being built here inside the convention center. And again I want to thank her for her strong partnership and really the partnership of her team and my team. And this is playing out all across the state of Louisiana. We have seen, and many of you may not have looked at the testing results for today, but I did want to just update you are real quickly. So in the last 24?hours, as of the noon update, we've added 225 new COVID19?cases around the state of Louisiana. That's on 2710 new tests that were run. That's a ratio of 8.3?percent of all the tests that were run? and we got the result from in the last 24?hours were actually positive. So the total number of COVID cases across the state of Louisiana right now is 3540. Unfortunately, we did add 14 new deaths, and we have a total of 151 deaths across the state of Louisiana. If you have questions related to testing, I have Dr.?Alex Billeaux who will be here to answer those questions shortly. Obviously, we have to work very hard to try to get in front of this virus because we are playing catchup. There's no doubt about that. And it moves fast, and it can be deadly, as we know. We currently have the third most cases in the country of any state on a per capita basis, but we are number two on per capita deaths, and that's a very disappointing number, and we need to get off of the trajectory we're on right now as it relates to case growth, and certainly as it relates to deaths across the state of Louisiana. Here at this facility, we're going to stand up right at 1,000 beds between now and a week from now, next Sunday, right here inside the convention center. We have the capacity to surge even more beds here at the convention center, and those decision points have not yet been reached in terms of our timeline. We're going to continue to analyze the data, refine our models, and we will surge additional capacity here in Region?1 as we need to, whether it's here at the convention center or elsewhere. So while we are going to be prepared for surge capacity in the event that our hospitals lack the beds to take care of individuals who are afflicted with COVID19, it is my hope and my prayer that we will not need them. And of course that depends on how well we practice our social distancing, which you all are doing a good job here right now, and I want to thank you for that, and how well the state of Louisiana, Region?1, New Orleans adheres to the mayor's mitigation measures and my stayathome order. I do want to point something out up front. When this facility becomes operational, nobody is to present here for treatment. Individuals will come here by being transferred from a hospital. There will not be any visitation to take place here at this facility, and so I want to make sure everyone understands what will be happening here and what will not be happening here. These beds will be for patients who are not fragile. They don't need to be on a ventilator. They don't need an ICU bed. But they still need to be hospitalized. And in order to relieve the pressure on our tier 1 hospitals, we're going to open this facility so that they can turn over those beds more often. That is another way that we're surging our medical capacity. We are also adding? and I wanted to cover this with you? a significant number of ICU beds across the state and here in Region?1. For example, Ochsner New Orleans is adding 91 ICU beds. LCMC in New Orleans is adding 70 ICU beds. And both of those facilities have some of those ICU beds up and running already. Some others are going to come online in the next few days, and yet some others in about three weeks. Outside of New Orleans, we have other hospitals, like Ochsner LSU health in Shreveport, who are actually going to add 120 ICU beds over the next month. Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge, 75 ICU beds will be added. And Baton Rouge General is adding both regular inpatient beds and ICU beds; 34 ICU beds and 229 inpatient beds. You've heard me say before that the President had approved our request through FEMA to get personnel to come and staff these facilities. It was announced that a 60person strike team coming from U.S. Public Health Services would be coming to Louisiana. We found out this morning, that team has been diverted. But the good news is they replaced it with a larger team that's going to come from the Navy, from Jacksonville, Florida, and we will have those individuals on the ground here shortly. And they will help us to staff the 250bed unit across the street, the personal housing unit, where currently we're looking to put persons under investigation over there. And so these will be individuals that are showing symptoms. They've been tested, but they're awaiting their test results. They'll be housed across the street, at least initially, and we'll use the Navy to staff that particular facility. And then any additional staffing that the Navy brings that they don't need at the personnel housing unit across the street, we will have those individuals to be available here at the Morial Convention Center to augment the staffing that we are bringing in to New Orleans on a contract that we have. So if you look at the initial bed capacity that we will have in place a week from today, it's actually a total of 1,250 beds, 1,000 in the convention center, 250 across the street. We will surge beyond that if we need to. And I am very thankful for all of the hard work that is being put in around the clock in order to surge our ability to provide medical care. But while we're surging our care, my Number?1 message to the state of Louisiana, to the people who are listening right now, we still have a great need to flatten the curve. We don't see yet that we're off the trajectory that we have been on, and quite frankly, we need everybody to do everything that they can to slow the spread of this disease, practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20?seconds, make sure that you're using hand sanitizer if you can't wash your hands, control your cough, make sure you're staying home, and only traveling about if it's essential that you do so. And the mayor and I understand that you need to go to the grocery store on occasion and to the pharmacy and you need to go get gas and you need to go to the bank, but you don't have to go every day. And not everybody in your household needs to go on those trips. And so we're asking you to do everything that you can to minimize social contact for as long as is necessary so that we can bend the curve and get through this. What we cannot have happen is that we don't slow the spread of this disease and we end up with too many people presenting at the hospital all at once. That is what we're trying to avoid. And you may be feeling a little bit better today because the new cases in the last 24?hours are smaller than the previous 24?hours. Understand that that was fewer tests that were administered as well, so nobody should rest too easy, although I am personally anxious to see real evidence that we are flattening the curve. As you know, my stay at home order is scheduled to end April the 13th. I do want people to know that based on facts on the ground, as we get closer to that date, we will determine whether to extend that date. Right now, I can tell you it may well have to be extended beyond April the 13th. You all may have seen where we reported last night that I lost a very valued member of my team in the Governor's office. Her name was April Dunn. She worked for the office of disability affairs. She was 33?years old, and she died from COVID19 in the hospital last night. Obviously, this is a personal loss for me and for our team, but it underscores just how important it is that the stayathome order is complied with in order to protect people who have underlying health conditions or who are at risk, really to protect everybody, regardless of what their particular situation is. So the message continues to be stay at home, stop the spread, and save lives. Seven your second lines for later this year. I look forward to the day that we can all hug one another again and that we can dance and we can celebrate and get close like we like to do, but save that for later. It is grossly irresponsible for people to flagrantly disregard and violate these social distancing measures that we have in place across the state of Louisiana. Right now, we should be focused on stopping the spread of COVID19 in our communities, and we need to support our healthcare workers, our first responders, all of whom are absolute heroes, working under very, very difficult circumstances, and working around the clock in disregard sometimes for their own wellbeing but to do what they are trained to do and educated to do and what they love to do, and that's to take care of their fellow New Orleanians and their fellow Louisianians. And the least we can try to do is make sure we don't put more demand on them than is absolutely necessary. It's also a demand on PPE, which remains too limited, although we've been lucky enough to get over 100,000 N95 masks in over the last 24?hours, all of which have already been pushed out to hospitals across the state of Louisiana and here in New Orleans. So I want to thank Mayor Cantrell again for the work she's doing down here and for the partnership. And you shouldn't make her and her police chief go out and break up gatherings. You ought to allow her and you ought to allow me to focus on those things that we need to be focused on to surge our medical capacity too, better serve the people that are our constituents and do the long range planning and acquire the resources necessary to implement those plans. If we're having to respond to people because they're not following our orders, then you really are causing more problems that you can imagine. So I'm appealing to everybody again today. And by the way, we have an awful a lot of compliance, and I want to thank those people too. But we still have too many instances where people are not complying as they should. So I'm going to be followed now by Mayor Cantrell, and following her presentation, we will be happy to to take your questions. Mayor Cantrell.MAYOR CANTRELL: Thank you, Governor, very much, to our entire teams on both sides and of course that on the ground in the City of New Orleans, there is no way we could do this without you. We appreciate you. This is a Region?1 center, as the Governor mentioned, that we're standing up here, as a medical monitoring center. The City of New Orleans is a part of that Region?1, but it is in New Orleans for a reason. And the citizens need to understand that, because we are at this time still leading the state of Louisiana with our residents who are suffering from this virus. That's why it's here, because we are living in serious times and definitely in a crisis in the state of Louisiana, the United States of America, which is very clear right here on the ground. So the social distancing, the stay at home mandates are something that we need the public to adhere to, and all of the public. We will have to enforce the laws every step of the way. We need law and order. And Superintendent Ferguson, the entire New Orleans police department, along with other investigative partners here in the City of New Orleans will take action as we are called to do if we find those who consistently violate them all. Again, the number of cases in the City of New Orleans are growing. We do not know where the curve is. Therefore, at this time, we need you to stay at home. We need you to only come out, again, seeking the essentials that you need on a daily basis. And like the Governor said, you don't have to come out every day. So please adhere to the mandates that we have placed in order. Also, I want to thank all of the residents who are following the rules, and far more than those who are not. Make no mistake about that. And you matter, and you're showing us what we can do and how we have the power to do this, stay at home. Not only that, you've stepped up. Throughout the city, the three areas that we've asked you to go drop off PPE, you're doing that, and we thank you for that. Those will go to our first responders, our medical professionals, again, who are making the sacrifices daily to protect the lives of our people. They will also go to our coroners, again, who have to respond to the needs when we do lose life, and that is happening. The Governor mentioned an employee near and dear, but understand, the 73 lives we've lost in the City of New Orleans, they're close to all of us, and every single day, I'm like, oh, my God, not leave Levi, oh, my God, not Tracy. But it's real. And some of the three areas in terms of the deaths, the preexisting conditions that our people have suffered from prior to getting the virus, we know that chronic illness. Again, in terms of disparities and disparity gaps in the state of Louisiana are right here in the City of New Orleans. So those who are living with lung disease, suffering with diabetes, heart disease, obesity, are among those whose lives are being lost in record numbers. So please adhere to the mandates. Please, and listen to the warnings and know that all of us matter in this. And I've got emails saying, oh, you know? I pay my taxes and somehow your life is even more than the person that's on the street. That's not the truth. Because this virus doesn't care who pays taxes or who has a home to live in. But it's up to us collectively to meet the needs of all of our residents, all of our citizens, because everyone matters. So at this time we still have drivethru testing happening and testing happening throughout the City of New Orleans, which we will continue to lift up as the week progresses. So, please, if you are asymptomatic, if you feel you are in need of a test, go to these testing sites. They're here for you. We can do this. We know that we're going to get through this. But how we come through it depends on how we respond to the mandates right now. So thank you so much, Governor. We will continue to do all that we can to protect the lives of our citizenry every step of the way. But we can only do so much. Personal responsibility is at the top of all of this. Take care of yourself. Take care of your family members. And if we do that, then we're taking care of everyone. So thank you, again. We'll now move to Q&A.AUDIENCE MEMBER: Governor, what do you make of the numbers? There's fewer test results coming back. Why is that? Is that a bottle neck or is that a good sign? What do you make of it?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Well, it's hard for me to say that fewer tests are a good sign because we still need to continue to increase our testing capacity, both the collection of specimens and the throughput at the labs because we like knowing more, not less, about this particular disease and its spread. What I think happened, and Dr.?Billioux will come up behind me, is there was a period of time last week where we had a really substantial backlog in tests, and we were waiting for those results. And it looks like a lot of those results came in over about a 48hour period, and so the testing has leveled off somewhat. But I don't make much out of the fact that we have fewer tests in terms of thinking that we're starting to bend the curve because we still have a high percentage of those people who were tested that were positive. Now, we're analyzing the data every way that it can be analyzed. We're getting new data points and they're informing our model. I'm going to get a briefing later this afternoon as to exactly where our experts think we are when it comes to bending the curve. But quite frankly, I don't? as I stand here right now, I don't have any reason to tell you that I think we have substantially started to flatten the that curve the way way that we need to. And I don't know if you want to add anything to that, Dr.?Billioux.DR. ALEX BILLIOUX: Exactly as the Governor said. I would only add that one of the focuses that we have is the expanding testing in other regions of the state. As the mayor said, you know, the concentration has been on Region?1, on the greater New Orleans area. There's drivethru testing sites for symptomatic individuals. The hospitals are doing a fantastic job of increasing capacity. And we've seen that in other regions, but we also know areas of our state that do not have enough testing capacity right now. It's one of the focuses that we have at the Office of Public Health, and at the Governor's direction is, to get more testing out into those regions. And, again, we'll see if, as we start to increase those numbers in those other areas, whether we get different information. AUDIENCE MEMBER: While I'm here, on ventilators, you said recently that you had a commitment of zero ventilators from the feds. Where are we right now on ventilators in terms of any commitments from the federal government or elsewhere?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Well, I believe that there's still some ventilators in the strategic national stockpile. We are making requests? we are renewing that request every few hours. I personally got on the phone with the FEMA administrator today to make our case again. As I answer your question, we have yet to be approved for any ventilators from the national stockpile. I do have some hope and expectation that that will change. But quite Frankly, ventilators are too limited, and we're not likely to get them in the numbers that we need them. We have ordered well over 12,000, 5,000 from the national stockpile, at least 7,000 from private vendors. Thus far, we've received exactly 192, and this is over the last several weeks now?AUDIENCE MEMBER: What is your expectation with regard to the stockpile?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Well, my expectation is that the next time they make an allocation, that they're going to cut a slice for the state of Louisiana, but they haven't confirmed that or committed to that in any way. But I'm making the case as emphatically as I can, and I just have to believe that it's not going to fall on deaf ears this time. But each if we get several hundred ventilators, that's not going to be enough based on the current modeling that we're seeing, and the ventilators are the largest issue we have in the shortterm. In response to this, we are looking at every breathing device, every anesthesia ventilator and ambulatory surgical centers, everything that we can use, EMTs ventilators that typically you wouldn't see in a hospital setting, but we're looking to marshal all of these resources, get them to our tier 1 hospitals to make sure we have as much vent capacity as possible. So we're not doing nothing as we wait, and I want to assure people of that. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Governor, statewide, where are you on the number of hospital beds that are available or already in the state? Can you give a percentage breakdown of how much is left at this point?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Yes. Well, we still have capacity in all of our regions, and we have capacity as it relates to ICU beds, acute care beds, and ventilators. Now, that only means that we don't have a person in every single bed and hooked up to every single ventilator. Again, we are running models based on the growth rate of our cases, the percentage of people who are positive that we know are going to have to go to the hospital, the percentage of those individuals who are going to need a ventilator, then you have to try to figure out what the average stay is in the hospital bed by different acuity levels, and what the average stay is going to be on a ventilator. And then you plot all of that out, and the data is coming in every day and so we're refining our modelling and so forth. But I don't want? the fact that we have capacity today should not give anybody a false sense of security about this situation. We were never modelled to be out of capacity today. Initially, we thought we might be out of vent capacity as early as April the 2nd. We now think that that's going to be closer to the 4th or the 5th, and we may run out of beds by April the 10th or so. So that's the modeling that we have at present. And the only thing that the public can do? because unless you're here working for the mayor or myself, unless you're in the National Guard or so forth, you can't do much about surging medical capacity. But you have everything to do with whether we need that capacity and how soon we need it, because you have the power to slow the spread. And I'm asking all of the news media here, ask all the questions you want to ask and we're going to give you the best answers, but when you present information to the public, make sure that over and over and over again you're telling them what they need to be doing, what it is that they need to know so that they're doing their part to make sure that we slow the spread and we don't present all the patients at once on our hospitals to exceed the capacity that we have to deliver healthcare.AUDIENCE MEMBER: You all were talking about the 1,000 beds that were opening here or that will be available here and the 250 across the street for those who are waiting for their tests. My question is where across the street? And then also, when do we expect for these facilities to open?AUDIENCE MEMBER: Okay, the facilities are being opened no later than a week from today, and right behind you and down back up river just a little bit is where you will see the 250personnel holding unit. Is that right? PHU? They change these acronyms on me all the time. But those will? our idea right now is that persons under investigation will be there and COVID positive patients will be here in the 1,000 beds that will be here. But both of those facilities will be open no later than seven days from today, and staffed.AUDIENCE MEMBER: And how close are we to having this personal protective gear for healthcare workers here?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Well, the PPE comes in as it comes in. And, look, this is a very frustrating thing for us is ventilators and PPE. Quite simply put, every state in our country, every hospital in our country, and every? and the federal government are all out there trying to secure PPE and there's only so much of it being manufactured here in the United States and around the world. But we have gotten over the last several days more shipped into Baton Rouge than we had previously. Just yesterday, we distributed more than 100,000 N95 masks, for example. My conversations with FEMA this morning led me to believe that we have some period of time to go where we're not going to have as much as we would like, and I'm expecting that the flow of PPE over the next several days will look like it has over the last couple of weeks, for the most part. We are expecting, however, that at some point? and I really don't want to try to give you a specific time frame? but at some point in the not too distant future, we believe there will be more PPE coming in from various places around the world on a daily basis and that that PPE will make its way to the traditional PPE vendors so that our medical providers are going to be able to source PPE from their typical vendors. And we will also have some available for the state through FEMA. But we're not there yet, but that's what I believe within over the next several days?AUDIENCE MEMBER: One more question. We've been receiving a lot of reports to our station about these public gatherings people held. People are videoing people playing football together. Could you just kind of talk to us about that, how important it is that people adhere?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Yeah, obviously it's disappointing to me. I know it's disappointing to the mayor. It's disappointing to leaders and citizens all over the state. It really is terribly irresponsible. And in a certain way, it's very selfish for people to continue to have contact like that in large groups. You're violating lawful orders, first of all. You're going to consume time and attention to first responders and you're making it much more likely that this disease is going to continue to spread and pose the risk of exceeding the capacity to deliver healthcare. And it's just selfish. Right now, we need to be good neighbors to one another, especially to those who are most vulnerable, whether they're elderly or because they have underlying chronic health conditions or both, we need to be good neighbors. And being a good neighbor means you're not going to have contact. You're going to stay at home. Call and check on people. Skype with them. Do Facetime with them. But to go out and continue to live as if everything is normal really is the height of selfishness right now, and we're better than that. And I, like the mayor, am very thankful that we have so many people in this city and across the state who are complying with our orders, but it's not where it needs to be. I did get a report of a second line down here in New Orleans yesterday. You know, there's going to be a time and place for that. It's not now, and it's not everyone in the state of Louisiana. So that's my message to the people. Now, somebody's got to have a question for the mayor.AUDIENCE MEMBER: This could be for either, and I apologize if I missed anything here. But the first is what is the exact staffing plan for inside the convention center and have the requisite contracts been signed for that? And the second question being, and maybe this is for Dr.?Billioux, but for something like this, is there a guidance on the recommended number of doctors, nurses, per bed that are needed? Are you hopeful that you'll be able to meet that?AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah, well, first of all, understand that this is a nonacute hospital setting, and so these patients who come here are not going to be fragile. They're not going to need a vent. And we believe that they will only need to be here for a relatively short period of time before they can be discharged home. If they're not meeting those criteria, they're not going to come here. And so therefore that plays into the level of staffing that we're going to need at this medical monitoring station. But as far as the staffing contract and what that staffing will look like, I'm going to ask Dr.?Billioux to come up and answer that question.DR. ALEX BILLIOUX: As the Governor said, the goal here is really to have a unit for folks who are all but ready to go home. When we talked with the medical teams across the city and frankly across the state, there's a number of folks who as they're healing from COVID19, they still have need for oxygen. They still have some nursing needs that just aren't at the same level. And so this facility is really designed for those folks as a bridge, not having that happen in the hospital where the teams are better allocated towards people who need more intensive nursing care, really have it ready for people who are almost ready for home. And so we really hope it's ready for people who are going to have a short length of stay here, rapid turnaround. There's a schematic that I'm sure you'll have a chance to see where essentially you have a nursing unit that serves 15 or 14 patients around it, and that each one of those pods are sort of facing each other down a row. And so the idea is that with that kind of visibility, with that acuity of patients, with a relatively small number of people, we can take care of a lot of people and get them home safely.DR. ALEX BILLIOUX: After you see the configuration?AUDIENCE MEMBER: Still given that there's a small number needed, is there a goal on the amount and? GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Yeah. So we have a contract in place that we've signed with a medical staffing contractor, and we're going to have the doctors and the nurses that we need here to take care of the patients. And as I mentioned earlier, there's a good chance that they will be augmented perhaps by individuals who are associated with the Navy medical team that's going to be coming over. I don't have the exact number, but the number of those individuals could be as high as 180. And so that may well be more personnel than we need to monitor the personnel housing unit across the street. And by the way? and I meant to mention this earlier. In a few days, we're going to make sure that you have an opportunity, as media, to go in and take a look at what they're doing behind us in the convention center. It is very much a construction zone today, and we don't want to slow down the work that is taking place, but when they finish out the first exhibition hotline, we're going to have people who will come and escort you through, let you take pictures, let you ask questions. And I think you're going to be impressed by what you see that they're putting together in such a short period of time. Tyler?AUDIENCE MEMBER: Just one last question. GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Oh, I'm sorry.AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm sorry, quick one. The second 250bed facility, the one that will be there, will the second be inside?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: So you're mixing apples and oranges. What we have across the street is not one of the field medical stations. The field medical stations we've got, we're going to actually use those beds and that equipment in the Morial Convention Center. But what you have over there is a separate effort that the state undertook in order to make sure that we had capacity down here, and some flexibility. So that is not one of the field medical station across the street. Tyler?AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah, Governor, this is an area where sometimes people walk. There's traffic that goes through here, and there are people who live in this neighborhood. Should people not come at all around here? And is there any danger to the people who live nearby from having sick patients?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: No. No. There's not going to be any danger here. Now, obviously, we don't want people coming and trying to visit here. We don't want people presenting here as if this is a first place for them to go to seek treatment for the virus or for anything else. This is going to be a stepdown hospital unit that the patients will come here strictly by being transferred from other hospital. But I'm going to let the mayor address the community here in which the facility sits, but I have no fear that this unit here is going to pose any danger to the surrounding community at all.MAYOR CANTRELL: Thank you. Thank you, Governor. And Tyler, that is exactly the opposite message that we want to send to the public. This is not a time for not in my back yard, okay? This is a time for us to meet the needs of our residents and getting them well. The persons under investigation are those who are not positive; however, don't need to go back into their regular home setting but need to be isolated so that we can monitor them and keep them from getting the virus. Here, it's for those who are positive but are moving towards recovery and a full recovery, which will be when they're discharged from the hospital, they will come here until they're fully recovered. And then from here, they will go home, to those neighborhoods that they live in throughout the City of New Orleans. GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: And just before you ask your next question, Tyler, I would make the point that absent of a facility like this, not only this community, but every other community in Region?1 is going to be much more at risk because these individuals wouldn't have anywhere to go. And so we're standing this facility up to protect everybody, regardless of where they live in Region?1, whether they're here in Orleans or in Jefferson or in Plaquemines or in St. Bernard, you name it. So this is all about public safety and the health of our people. And so everybody is better off because of this facility, not just the people who are going to be here. Yes, ma'am?AUDIENCE MEMBER: I have a couple of questions for you. First of all, in regards to the death rate, you mentioned it before, but, again, could you comment on your reaction to the death rate here in the state and I guess the city, as well? And do you know why it's so high?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Well, it's premature to say that we know why. We have some pretty good guesses as to what's going on. Today, we announced 14 new deaths at noon for a total of 151. That's a lot. First of all, 1 is a lot. And the mayor was exactly right. We grieve for every single one of those 151 people, and we lift them up in prayer and their families, and I'm encouraging everybody to do that. But we know that 41?percent of the individuals who have died? and this doesn't account for the last 14 people, but I suspect that it's going to hold true. 41?percent had diabetes. A smaller percentage had another kidney disease. And then you had obesity feeding into that. And so what we've known all along is that the most vulnerable people in Louisiana and elsewhere, when it comes to this virus, are those who are older and those who have underlying chronic health conditions. And if you are older with one of these conditions, you are most vulnerable of all. This is what's playing out in Louisiana. And, you know, I know the epidemiologists and physicians of all types and researchers, they're going to study this for some period of time. All I can tell you is that it hurts me to know that we've lost anybody, but it hurts me especially to know that we have the second highest mortality rate on a per capita basis in the United States. And this underscores the need for social distancing. What we've been saying isn't just guesswork. We haven't been talking about mitigation measures and staying at home and minimizing social contact just because we like to get in front of a camera. You literally pose a risk to your neighbor and to your family and to your friends and everybody else and to healthcare workers, by the way, and first responders, if you don't do what we're asking you to do. But it's a great question. We're going to have better answers at some point, but I'm sharing with you what we know now.AUDIENCE MEMBER: Also real quick about the testing. I know a lot of folks have been concerned about the testing, how long it takes, who's exactly allowed to be tested, as the testing opens up. What would you tell folks? Can you kind of go through what the process is and when you can expect your tests and where these tests go?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Dr.?Billioux is going to come up here and answer that question. He can formulate his answer for the next 20?seconds while I tell you this. Nobody is happy with the number of testing that have been administered, the collection capacity that we have and collection kits and so forth, and the throughput of the labs. Having said that, we're fourth or fifth in the country on a per capita basis in terms of the number of tests that we've administered. And that the ramping up every day, and it is getting better, and it needs to because we may be in this fight for a long time. And the testing is getting better and so forth, but we're not happy with where we're at. There's more testing available here in New Orleans and in Jefferson Parish and in Region?1 than elsewhere, and that's for a good reason. This is where we have the most cases. But I can tell you, we know that we have COVID now in almost all of our parishes. So this is a statewide fight. We have rural communities where they actually have very limited testing capacity right now, and we're working very, very hard to expand that capacity. We're working to develop partnerships with Walmart, for example, so that we can have some Walmarts in some different areas where we can do testing and so forth. But nobody is happy with where we are, and we're trying every day to expand our testing and to get the results communicated to individuals faster because that has been a challenge as well.MAYOR CANTRELL: And actually I'll speak to that real quick. One of the down sides that we did see from our drivethru testing sites, for example, was the? after getting the results, getting that information to the individual themselves. So we saw that there was a real disconnect from people who had actually went to go, you know, through the testing site, went to the testing site to get tested, going through the process of getting those results, but they were not being notified. And so when we determined that that was a real bottleneck and a problem at the city level, we then lifted up our health department. And within that? within our own health department, to then begin to do the contacting to those individuals, the outreach necessary, so we can get them the information, let them know what their results were. But that was absolutely an area that we needed to improve because we were told by our federal partners they would actually be making those calls, but when we saw the bottleneck, we just jumped right in, came up with, you know, a way to move through it and to reach out and contact our own people. That is ongoing. We started that a couple of days ago.DR. ALEX BILLIOUX: I'll just briefly add. The most important testing that we're doing right now is at our hospital, both for patients and for healthcare workers, because we really need to answer quick questions about is this patient in front of me, does this person have COVID19, and for my healthcare workers, can they be back on the front lines. So that's the work that we're doing in the state lab. Unfortunately, there's a number of hospitals, like the Ochsner system hospital in the Baton Rouge area that are leveraging an LSU veterinary lab and hospital in the Shreveport area that are also standing up their own labs really to try to answer those timely questions for those folks. For everybody else, certainly we do want to be in a position where we could tell somebody whether they have COVID19 or not, but the better message for everybody to take is if you have symptoms of COVID19, you should be staying home. You should be staying home, and you should be isolating from other people because you could be at risk of transmitting. We do want to get to the point where we have more tests successful and where those commercial companies are able to manage the volume we're throwing at them and have a shorter time between testing and answers, but the most important thing that anybody can do, whether they have that test result or not, is to stay at home and behave as if they did so that they're protecting themselves, their family, and their neighborhood?AUDIENCE MEMBER: Quick followup of that. If someone doesn't know whether they have COVID or not and they are exhibiting symptoms and it's getting to the point where they may even feel like they need to be hospitalized, what would you tell them?DR. ALEX BILLIOUX: So as a doctor my answer is always going to be, if you feel that you're having critical issues, you need to call 911 and tell them what's going on, and they can help get you to the right place. If you're having difficulty breathing, which is our main concern with COVID19, you need to be evaluated, get in an emergency room, in a hospital. However, that doesn't mean you should call 911 for any COVID symptom. You still want to call your primary care provider if you're having questions about is this cough likely COVID19? Is this sore throat, is this fever COVID19? For those folks, start there. You'll get probably some great advice about, again, isolating yourself and then whether you have access to a test or not. And the other thing is that as the Governor said, and the mayor, this is something that's going to take a long time for us to get control over. I think what we're going to see in availability of faster tests, not only tests in your neighborhood, but the faster turnaround times is going to change week by week. So it may be that we're able to get those answers much more timely going forward. GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: And for anybody out there, if you've got a question about what you should do with your symptoms or you've got concerns and you don't know, call 211. The folks at 211, they have the ability to give you the correct guidance. Yes, ma'am?AUDIENCE MEMBER: After getting a look at the convention center and how the beds are laid out, can you give us an idea of what this looks like and how you're making sure that these nurses and doctors working here aren't going to be more at risk because they're not actually in a hospital room?GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Well, first of all, these medical professionals, everyone here, we're going to do everything we can to make sure they have the proper PPE and they take the necessary precautions. But you're going to be, I believe, favorably impressed with what you see, the work that's going on with these individual rooms that are being created around nursing stations and so forth. But I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it is without risk, but the very best hospitals we have with negative pressure rooms, those too are not without risk. But we know that we have dedicated medical professionals. We're going to do everything we can to protect them, whether it's with PPE or with the procedures that they follow. And so this is going to function really well. It's going to serve its intended purpose, and it's going to be good for the patients who come here, and it's also going to be good for the community because we're going to have patients here rather than out on the street because we lack hospital capacity.MAYOR CANTRELL: When you see the facility, you will see the intentionality and the work that went into the planning because it demonstrates and it shows, just by sight alone, that we care about our healthcare professionals who will be rendering the care as much as we do about our patients who will be receiving the care. It speaks to all of that, quality healthcare.AUDIENCE MEMBER: And then mayor this is probably a question for you. But Chateau De Notre Dame is one of the most recent assisted living facilities we learned about that has a cluster. Their CEO put a letter out saying most of the patients were sent home, told to quarantine, but concern that they have is they have a lot of semiprivate rooms and they don't have any? do you have advice for what is being done to help these nursing facilities?MAYOR CANTRELL: Sure. Absolutely. Our nursing facilities have always been a top priority for us, and as relates to the PPE needs, not only has it been documented thoroughly, but we're responding to those needs as well. And this also speaks to the overwhelming support that we've received from the public in the last 24?hours for PPE. And so it's places like our nursing homes that will receive, you know, and will be treated, you know, based on the responses that we get from the public. So it's a good thing. So thank you so much, but know that we know about the needs there and we're responding to those needs, absolutely. GOVERNOR JON BEL EDWARDS: Look, I want to thank all of you for coming out, again, and practicing social distancing. I want to thank you for helping to us communicate to the public. And I am going to ask you to make sure that in addition to the sensational stories that you tell that you are messaging, you're communicating to the public, what it is that they need to be doing and how important it is that they do it. Because really what we're doing here is very, very important, but if we don't bend this curve, it's still likely that some people are not going to have a bed who need a bed. Some people are not going to have a ventilator who need a ventilator. And so the single most important thing that the public needs to know is what it is they need to be doing, or in this case, not doing. And show your love for your neighbor by not going to see them. Give them a call. God bless y'all and thank you. ................
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