Governor John Bel Edwards says ventilators continue to be the most pressing need in the state’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak…
cut 11 (09) “….Louisiana”
The governor’s office then announced late Monday that the state received 100 ventilators from vendors on Monday and President Trump has committed to sending 150 more ventilators to Louisiana. Currently, 385 patients require ventilation.

State lawmakers will reconvene the 2020 session today and House Speaker Clay Schexnayder says they will practice social distancing…
cut 14 (09) “…should be fine”
Schexnayder says they will gavel in today to read some bills into the record and then adjourn again for at least another two weeks.

Testing will soon begin in Louisiana on whether hydroxychloroquine can be used to treat COVID-19 patients or if it can be used as a preventive measure for healthcare workers on the frontline. Dean of LSU Health Sciences School of Medicine Dr. Steve Nelson says the drug has been shown in a test tube to kill coronavirus, but there has only been a small number of clinical trials.
Cut 7 (11) “…a small number.”
Nelson says the biggest hurdle has been getting their hands on the drug for testing, but with a donation of 400-thousand hydroxychloroquine sulfate tables from a pharmaceutical company, they expect trials to begin later this week.