BATON ROUGE, La. — Just minutes ago, while I was on a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence about the coronavirus, I learned that we have a presumptive positive case of coronavirus in Louisiana, a Jefferson Parish resident who is hospitalized in Orleans Parish. It still must be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Understand that we are treating this as a positive case and this confirmation process will not slow us down from taking any necessary actions to continue monitoring and preventing the spread of this virus.
I have promised that we would be transparent about this and we will. Later this afternoon, I will be joined by public health officials for a news conference to answer questions.
Now together we all—as a government, as health care systems and providers, as schools, businesses and as neighbors—must take action and be vigilant to prevent the spread of this virus in our great state.
The novel coronavirus and preventing the spread of illness has been an increased focus over the past weeks and months, as we see more cases pop up all over the country.
In response, I launched a Task Force that is leading the planning effort for different scenarios involving COVID-19 and our state agencies have been coordinating with the federal government and each other to ensure that we are preparing for and responding to this public health threat properly.
As legislators, one of the most important things you can do to help is to share accurate information with your constituents about the current threat in Louisiana, which remains low, and the proper ways to avoid spreading illness, including hand washing, coughing into your elbow, avoiding unnecessary hand shaking and staying home when you are sick.
One of the biggest questions people across the country have is about testing. In Louisiana, we have completed 15 tests so far at the state’s Public Health Lab, 14 are negative and one is positive as I just mentioned. We have recently received two additional test kits from the CDC and have the capacity for several hundred tests.
For our tests, we are working within the CDC’s guidance to test three groups of people – those who have traveled to certain areas and have symptoms, those who have had close contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19 and who show their own symptoms and, finally, those with an acute respiratory illness that cannot be explained.
While we, and most states, had limited testing capacity at the start of this process, we should see commercial testing go live across the country and in Louisiana this week.
Commercial testing means that more people who are sick will be able to talk to their health care providers about their risk and if they need to be tested, which is a good thing.
Our role at the state will be to take any test that is presumed positive by a commercial lab and then to verify it at the State Public Health Lab, before sending it to the CDC for confirmation. This verification will be very important as these commercial tests come online. Let me be clear – we will immediately take action on any positive test out of an abundance of caution while waiting for confirmation from the CDC.
And, yes, we will still be announcing any additional presumed positive cases to the public.
For anyone who is presumed positive, we will also be completing what epidemiologists call “contact tracing” to make sure we are assessing the risk to people who have come in contact with them and completing additional testing to prevent the spread.
We do encourage anyone who is sick to seek advice from a medical provider. We also strongly recommend people avoid going out in public if they are sick.
Regardless of if a person has the coronavirus or the flu, we must all be vigilant to prevent the spread of illness in our communities.
There are many things I love about Louisiana, but our ability to work together when times are tough is at the top of the list. I am confident in the men and women who are working each and every day to prevent the spread of this illness.
I am grateful for anyone who plays a role in this response and am praying for the health and safety of the people of Louisiana.
