You can still buy a lottery ticket, but winners should know they won’t be able to claim any prizes over 600 dollars at the moment. Matt Doyle has the story.
_____________________________________
Lincoln Parish deputies are showing up to residents’ homes with groceries instead of warrants. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 2 (33) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart ”
___________________________________________
Governor Edwards continues to show a grim forecast for COVID-19’s impact on Louisiana. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 3 (33) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart”
____________________________________________
COVID-19 is impacting lottery sales to the point where the next time the Powerball jackpot is won and the jackpot resets, it’ll start at 20 million dollars as opposed to 40 million.
Louisiana Lottery spokesperson Kim Chopin says, for example, their March 11th Powerball Wednesday night drawing generated 265,000 dollars…
35 percent of sales generated by the lotto are used to fund K-12 education.
The governor’s order to close all state offices includes lotto offices, and Chopin says if you were one of Wednesday’s lucky 10,000 dollar winners, you can’t claim your money, yet.
They’ve also extended the expiration deadline for claiming prizes on all previous winning tickets by 90 days.
Scratch-off players take note, Chopin says they won’t be able to ship any more scratch-offs until state offices reopen.
____________________________________________
The Lincoln Parish Sherriff’s deputies are paying visits to homes in their community, not because they have a warrant, but because they have groceries. Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Matthew Henderson says they started doing grocery pickup for the elderly this week and have expanded to helping others that are at-risk.
Residents place their orders online, then call deputies telling them which store and the order number. Henderson says they just launched the delivery service on Monday and it has taken off.
Henderson says although none of the deputies ever thought they’d be in delivering groceries in law enforcement, they are finding the experience to be very rewarding.
Cut 9 (08) “…thing for everybody.″
______________________________________________
83 people are dead from the state’s 2,305 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The latest fatalities include the state’s first juvenile to die from the virus, a 17 year old from New Orleans. Governor Edwards says it is a reminder that everyone is at risk.
Cut 10 (11) “…it doesn’t discriminate.”
Edwards continues the stress the importance of minimize contact with others and says Louisiana is tied for second in the nation for per capita COVID infections.
Current projections show New Orleans running out of hospital bed space by April 7th. The Governor says his office is in the process of signing contracts to stage a makeshift hospital at the Morial convention center is planned to have 120 beds ready by end of the weekend, with 1120 in total sometime next week.
Edwards says just because someone may live outside of the New Orleans area does not mean COVID-19 isn’t any issue. The Governor referenced the recent uptick in numbers in Northwest Louisiana parishes as evidence.
Cut 12 (10) “…a statewide problem.”
Edwards says the focus remains on flattening the curve and calls on citizens to do better with social distancing and continue to avoid mass gatherings.
_________________________________________
Parts of the state could see record highs today, and that’s led some armchair virologists to speculate that the state could see a dip in COVID-19 cases as a result.
Our Lady of the Lake infectious disease specialist Catherine O’Neal says that’s a dubious claim that’s not supported by research.
Some of the misinformation about potential dips in COVID rates over the summer likely stems from false assumptions that it behaves like Influenza. O’Neal says that’s not the case.
That means we’re unlikely to be bailed out of this pandemic just because of a change in seasons. O’Neal says we’re still at a point where we don’t know when life can return to normal.
_________________________________
The Pelicans are trying to adjust to life under the threat of COVID-19 and maintain the momentum that had them challenging for the 8th seed before the season was suspended.
Pelicans VP of Basketball Operations David Griffin says things were going well until the NBA closed all practice facilities last Thursday.
Griffin expects the Pelicans haven’t played their last game this year and says he hopes fans get to see the conclusion of what’s been an encouraging first season with the new-look team.