LSU Health Shreveport is testing the impact of using inhaled nitric oxide on COVID-19 patients with severely damaged lungs. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
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Following the deaths of five prisoners, the ACLU is suing Oakdale Federal Prison for the release of inmates that are most at-risk for COVID-19. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
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Governor Edwards says new data shows potentially good news for Louisiana…
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LSU Health Shreveport is testing the impact of using inhaled nitric oxide on COVID-19 patients with severely damaged lungs. Professor of Pediatrics, Surgery & Medicine Dr. Keith Scott says treatment with the gas could potentially kill coronavirus in the lungs and improve oxygen delivery to injured tissue.
Cut 4 (10)_ “…anti-viral activity.”
The study is a collaboration with two other institutions in the US and sites in Europe. Scott says the clinical testing will be done with patients that are bad off.
Scott says if the testing shows effective against COVID-19, using nitric oxide has already been FDA-approved for therapy with other types of respiratory failure and most hospitals already have the treatment readily available.
Research from LSU Health Shreveport has shown that nitric oxide is a strong protector against tissue hypoxia.
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Attorney Jeff Landry announces Louisiana is receiving 8,000 packs of azithromycin, and 75,000 hydroxychloroquine tablets, a treatment that some speculate could help treat COVID-19.
The treatment doesn’t have FDA backing yet, but Landry says many doctors have chosen to prescribe these drugs to their COVID patients.
When asked about the treatment Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said “The data is at best suggestive. I don’t think we could definitively say it works.”
The President has strongly advocated for the treatment, but Landry says…
Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial that is now used to treat other conditions such as Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis. There’s fear those patients could find the drugs in short supply, but…
Cut 9 (12) “…hydroxycloroquine″
The drugs were procured from Teva Pharmaceuticals.
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The ACLU is suing Oakdale Federal Prison for the release of inmates that are most at-risk for COVID-19. The facility has already seen five inmates die from the virus and others become critically ill. ACLU of Louisiana executive director Alanah Odoms Hebert says they aren’t asking for the release of all prisoners.
Cut 10 (11) “…to be released.”
Hebert says in order for the facility to be compliant with the CDC’s social distancing guidelines, the prison needs to be relieved of some of the 1,800 inmates. US Attorney General William Barr issued a directive last week to reduce prison populations, but the ACLU feels the procedure of doing so is going too slow.
Cut 11 (12) “…de-densify that facility.”
Hebert says in the case of Oakdale, leadership needs to be seen from the federal level to expedite the process, but as it pertains to state-run facilities, action is needed from Governor Edwards.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has responded saying they do not comment on pending litigation.
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New federal projections have cut Louisiana’s estimation of total COVID-19 deaths by over 50%, and Governor Edwards says it appears Louisiana may have begun to flatten the curve.
Edwards says social distancing rules have played a big role, but so have healthcare workers. He says they’ve managed to reduce the average amount of time patients stay on ventilators.
Initial federal projections said 1,800 Louisianans would die of the disease. The current model estimates 800 fatalities.
But Edwards says now is no time to get complacent.
The projection is also based on the state maintaining its current level of social distancing through May.
Edwards says restricted travel is playing a big part in lowering transmission rates, which is why he isn’t faulting Texas’s governor for screening some drivers who cross state lines.
Texas is asking anyone from Louisiana who plans on staying in Texas to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
The projections may look better but the new data wasn’t all good news. Edwards says it shows some alarming numbers of racial disparities.