400,000 hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets have been donated to the state of Louisiana. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 1 (29) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart”
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Governor John Bel Edwards says the state is doing all it can to be prepared for the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jeff Palermo has the story…
Cut 2 (31) “…I’m Jeff Palermo”
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After a two-week break, LSU’s spring semester resumes today, but all classes have been moved online. English Professor Kevin Cope says there will be something lost in the translation to online for all students, but he expects those in traditional liberal arts classes will fare best, while…
The campus has been closed to all but the few students who couldn’t leave and are at the dorms, and essential staff.
Cope says the transition to online learning has gone about well as it could considering the short notice, but LSU was not fully prepared to make the jump.
Cope says the school has not been able to invest in its online capabilities due to chronic underfunding of state schools.
LSU’s campus is currently set to stay closed at least through the end of May.
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Attorney General Jeff Landry announces a donation of 400,000 hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets from Amneal Pharmaceuticals to the state. The drug has been identified as a possible treatment for COVID-19, which Landry says has created a high demand.
Cut 6 (11) “…that supply crunch.”
Louisiana has become a COVID-19 hotspot, ranking in the top three locations in the nation for the illness. Landry says LSU’s medical school has received approval to begin clinical testing of the drug.
Cut 7 (06) “…a treatment medicine.”
Landry says it is vital to have this drug on hand for medical professionals, not only to possibly treat patients, but to defend themselves.
Cut 8 (07) “…with this crisis.”
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Governor John Bel Edwards says by the end of this week the New Orleans area could reach its ventilator capacity. The state health department reports about 400 patients are currently using the machines to help COVID-19 patients breathe. Edwards says they are seeking over 12-thousand ventilators
Cut 9 (10) “…several weeks now″
Edwards says the New Orleans area could run out of bed space by April 10th. But a makeshift hospital is going up inside the New Orleans Convention Center. The governor says one-thousand hospital beds will be ready within a week inside the convention center
Edwards says he’ll likely extend his stay-at-home order beyond April 13th as Louisiana ranks second in the nation in per capita deaths related to COVID-19….
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President Donald Trump has extended the nation’s social distancing guidelines that were set to expire today for another month through April 30th. Senator Bill Cassidy says the restrictions will likely extend into May, unless the curve is flatten or scientists discover a treatment
The state health department reported an additional 485 coronavirus cases today, bringing the total number of positive cases to just over four-thousand. Over 11-hundred COVID-19 patients are hospitalized. Cassidy says hospitals are doing what they can to keep up with the surge in cases
Cut 13 (09) “…have a problem.”
A two-point-two trillion-dollar economic stimulus package was approved last week, but Cassidy says the federal government will do more if it has to. He’s very concerned about the state’s energy-producing companies