Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards will extend stay-at-home order to April 30
Greg HilburnBATON ROUGE — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday he will extend his statewide stay-at-home order through at least April 30 as coronavirus cases and deaths continue to escalate, while President Trump is sending the first ventilators to the state from the national stockpile.
Edwards, whose previous directive had been set to expire April 13, is in line with President Trump's decision Sunday to extend his recommended social distancing guidelines through April 30.
The governor said Trump's guideline extension was helpful because "it sends a clear message we're nowhere near over the hump," Edwards said.
"It creates a realistic expectation of the public," he said. "My (order) will be in line with the president's by the end of the week."
UPDATE:Louisiana coronavirus: 34 more die, 485 new cases Monday
Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Marketa Garner Walters also announced all supplemental nutrition assistance program (food stamp) recipients will automatically receive full benefits. Their first full monthly benefits will load Tuesday night.
Walters said 63% of SNAP recipients will see an increase in their benefits. She also said the work requirement for able-bodied adults has been waived.
MAP:Where coronavirus has spread in Louisiana by parish
Louisiana still in need of ventilators
Louisiana's coronavirus cases continued to escalate Monday with 485 new infections and 34 more deaths.
The Louisiana Department of Health reported a total of 4,025 cases and 185 total deaths in 59 of 64 parishes with the latest numbers.
READ:Coronavirus: Edwards worried virus will 'overwhelm our capacity' in hospitals
"We still see, according to our modeling, under any feasible scenario we will exceed ... ventilator capacity April 5 and hospital bed capacity April 12 (in the New Orleans region)," Edwards said.
Edwards said the state has ordered 14,000 ventilators, including 5,000 from the federal stockpile.
He said the president committed to sending 150 from the federal stockpile, the first from the national stockpile.
"This morning, President Trump committed to me that he would make sure that Louisiana received ventilators," Edwards said. "He has just announced that we will get 150 ventilators, which will be the first we have received from the federal government’s Strategic National Stockpile, though I surely hope they will not be the last. We don’t yet know when they will arrive in state or exactly what type of ventilators they are. But I very much appreciate this support."
READ:Top underlying health conditions in coronavirus deaths include diabetes, obesity
Edwards urges 'better compliance' with stay-at-home order
The governor continued to emphasize the need to follow his stay-at-home order to stem the spread of the infection.
"My first message to everybody out there is to comply with the stay-at-home order," he said. "We need people to honor the stay-at-home order. We need to have better compliance than we have."
READ:Coronavirus: Health experts see Mardi Gras link to Louisiana's huge spread
New Orleans continues to be a national hotbed for the infection with 1,480 cases and 86 deaths.
Caddo Parish has the second largest concentration of cases in the state with 222 and five deaths.
Of the 185 patients who died, the following is what the health department reported about underlying conditions:
- Pulmonary (12%)
- Cardiac (21%)
- Diabetes (40%)
- Chronic kidney disease (23%)
- Chronic liver disease (2%)
- Immuno-compromised (4%)
- Neurological (6%)
- Obesity (25%)
- No underlying conditions (3%)
READ:How can you reduce your chances of getting coronavirus?
Also Monday, eight more coronavirus clusters in Louisiana nursing homes were identified by the Louisiana Department of Health Monday, bringing the total of long-term care facilities with a confirmed cluster of cases to 28.
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.