Governor Edwards says new data indicates the state may be beginning to flatten the curve of new infections, and that if we can just keep staying home and practicing proper hygiene that the state could avoid what was once a worst-case scenario of 1,800 COVID deaths. The Governor also credited healthcare workers for reducing the average amount of time patients stay on ventilators.

Cut 13 (07) “…good thing.”

If we maintain the current mitigation measures through June 1^st, a CDC model estimates 800 COVID fatalities in the state.

LSU Health Shreveport is running trials to test whether or not nitric oxide could be effective for healing lungs damaged by COVID-19. Professor of Pediatrics, Surgery & Medicine Dr. Keith Scott says the treatment is FDA approved for other diseases, readily available in hospitals, and potentially effective.

Cut 6 (10) “the real goal.”

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.

Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart” 

Polling from Public Policy Polling shows Louisianans are quite happy with Governor Edwards response to the COVID crisis. 68 percent of respondents approved of the Governor’s handling, while only 16 percent disapproved. The poll also showed only 5 percent of Louisianans are “not that concerned” about coronavirus and it’s impacts.

The state health department releases data that shows black patients are dying at a much higher rate than whites from the coronavirus. Governor John Bel Edwards announced the new information during his daily COVID-19 briefing…
cut 16 (11) “…state”
Also, hypertension leads the list of underlying health conditions of Louisiana residents who died from the coronavirus.

A lawsuit seeks the release of inmates at the federal prison in Oakdale who are most at-risk for COVID-19. The facility has seen five inmates die from the virus and others have become critically ill. ACLU of Louisiana executive director Alanah Odoms Hebert…
Cut 10 (11) “…to be released.”
The federal Bureau of Prisons has not responded publically to the lawsuit.

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.
Cut 1 (33) “I’m Kevin Barnhart”

A White House model dramatically reduces the number of expected deaths in Louisiana from COVID-19. The previous projection pegged the expected deaths from the virus at 1,834, now they have at it 746. And researchers say the daily number of COVID-19 deaths may have already peaked and could slow to a halt by the last week of April.

Governor John Bel Edwards says new data shows potentially good news in Louisiana’s fight against the spread of the coronavirus…
voicer 3 (30) “…I’m Matt Doyle”

Louisiana is reporting just under 15-hundred COVID-19 cases and 512 deaths. The state health department has released a racial breakdown of the fatalities and 70-percent of Louisianans killed so far have been African-American. Also, the leading underlying health condition is hypertension.

Attorney General Jeff Landry announces Louisiana has secured additional COVID-19 medications. Teva Pharmaceuticals is donating eight-thousand packs of azithromycin and 75-thousand tablets of hydroxychloroquine to Louisiana. This is in addition to the 400-thousand tablets of hydroxychloroquine donated last week…
cut 8 (06) “..wand”
Some medical professionals say there has not been enough evidence to determine that these drugs actually work against COVID-19.

A lawsuit has been filed seeking for the release of hundreds of high-risk inmates at the Oakdale federal prison in Allen Parish. Five prisoners at the facility have died from COVID-19. ACLU of Louisiana executive director Alanah Odoms Hebert says Governor Edwards should take action too…
cut 12 (13) “…to see that”
A New Orleans drug gang leader was fatally shot Sunday after he was released from the Orleans Parish Jail due to the coronavirus threat.

Governor John Bel Edwards says they are starting to see signs that mitigation measures are working. Edwards says based on the latest hospital admission and death rates Louisiana may have started to flatten the curve. But the governor says now is not the time to get complacent…
cut 14 (12) “…answer”
Meanwhile, checkpoints have been set up in Texas as State Troopers are screening drivers and asking Louisiana residents entering the Lone Star state to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving. Edwards doesn’t blame Governor Greg Abbott for taking this measure…
cut 15 (12) “….just not”

Attorney General 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 are prescribing these drugs to COVID patients.
Cut 7 (07) “hospitalization”

LSU Health Shreveport is participating in a clinical trial to see if nitric oxide can help the lungs of a COVID-19 patient. Professor of Pediatrics, surgery, and medicine, Doctor Keith Scott…
cut 5 (09) “…to try this”
Scott says nitric oxide is already FDA-approved for therapy with other types of respiratory failure and most hospitals already have the treatment readily available.

Even though Louisiana is approaching 15-thousand coronavirus cases and has surpassed 500 deaths, Governor John Bel Edwards believes Louisiana may have begun to flatten the curve in its battle against the spread of COVID-19. Edwards says the state is no longer on track to run out of ventilators or hospital beds in the New Orleans region this week…
cut 13 (07) “…good thing”

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.

Following the deaths of five prisoners, the ACLU is suing Oakdale Federal Prison in Allen Parish for the release of inmates that are most at-risk for COVID-19. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Kevin Barnhart”

Governor Edwards says recent numbers indicate the state may be flattening the curve of new coronavirus infections, and we could be dodging a doomsday scenario where the New Orleans region runs out of healthcare capacity.

He also noted hypertension is now the clear leading underlying condition in COVID-19 fatalities, along with data that suggests a disturbing racial disparity. 70 percent of COVID deaths in the state were African Americans, who only make up 32 percent of the state’s population.

The state also reported a fatality for a newborn related to COVID-19. The East Baton Rouge Parish girl’s mother had contracted COVID-19, and the child was prematurely born as a result. EBR Coroner Beau Clark explains why pregnant moms are in the high-risk group…

Cut 8 (14) “…situation.”

Former Saints kicker Tom Dempsey, who once held the NFL record for the longest made field goal, has died from complications of the coronavirus. He was 73. Demspey kicked 159 field goals in eleven NFL season, even though he was born without toes on his right foot. His former teammate and ex-Saints Q-B Billy Kilmer…

Cut 9 (11) “…he was.″

In 1970 at old Tulane Stadium, Dempsey booted a 63-yard field goal as the Saints beat the Detroit Lions on the record-breaking kick. 

Dr. Ray Authement, who served as the president of UL Lafayette for 34 years, has died.  Upon his retirement in 2008, he was the longest-serving public university president in the United States.  Current UL Lafayette President Joe Savoie says Authement’s impact on the campus can still be seen today.

Cut 12 (10) “…changed the place.”

The Louisiana Department of Health will now begin reporting the demographics of those impacted by COVID-19. Governor Edwards announced today that so far, just over 70% of the state’s COVID fatalities are African American, while only making up about a third of the population. The state is currently at 512 deaths.
An East Baton Rouge Parish mother loses her baby after her COVID-19 symptoms resulted in the child’s premature birth. Matt Doyle has more.
Cut 1 (29) “…I’m Matt Doyle” 

Former Saints kicker Tom Dempsey, who once held the NFL record for the longest made field goal, has died from complications of the coronavirus. In 1970 at old Tulane Stadium, Dempsey booted a 63-yard field goal as the Saints beat the Detroit Lions on the record-breaking kick. NFL analyst Mike Detillier says Dempsey told him he never saw the ball go through the uprights.
Cut 10 (13) “…the field”
Dempsey was 73.
Normally, flu activity goes down at this time of the year.   However, State Immunization Director Dr. Frank Welch says the state has not yet seen that dip as one in ten visits to a doctor is for flu-like symptoms. With the high rates of testing for COVID-19, the math paints a picture of flu activity being much higher than normal.
Cut 4 (12)_ “… fact the flu.”

Saints legendary kicker Tom Dempsey has died from complications of the coronavirus. Jeff Palermo has the story…

Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Jeff Palermo” 

LSU officials are taking extra steps to prevent the university’s live mascot, Mike VII, from contracting COVID-19. Caretakers are taking the extra precautions after a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City tested positive for the virus over the weekend.

A one day old infant in East Baton Rouge Parish dies after being prematurely born due to complications stemming from her mother’s COVID-19 case. EBR Coroner Beau Clark says the child’s death is being counted in the parish’s total COVID fatalities, because…

Cut 6 (10) “labor”

He adds this is the first such case in Louisiana, but similar incidents have been reported nationwide.

Dr. Ray Authement, who served as the president of UL Lafayette for 34 years, has died at the age of 91.  Upon his retirement in 2008, he was the longest serving public university president in the United States.  Current UL Lafayette President Joe Savoie says Authement started at the school as a math professor.  Upon his retirement, he came back to the University to teach math again.

Cut 14 (12) “…to the university.”

Authement died Sunday at the age of 91.

The state reports 34 new COVID deaths bringing Louisiana’s total coronavirus fatalities to 512. One of the lives claimed was a newborn in East Baton Rouge Parish who died after being born severely premature due to her mother’s COVID symptoms. Pregnant women are considered a COVID-19 high-risk group, and EBR Coroner Beau Clark explains why…

Cut 8 (14) “…situation.”

Influenza cases should be going down at this time of the year but State Immunization Director Dr. Frank Welch says the state has not yet seen that dip as one in ten visits to a doctor is for flu-like symptoms.

Cut 3 (13)  “…to slow down.”  

Former Saints kicker Tom Dempsey, who once held the NFL record for the longest made field goal, has died of COVID-19. He was 73. NFL analyst Mike Detillier remembers the two appeared together at a public event in 2011 and fans stood in a long line to get Dempsey’s autograph

Cut 11 (05) “…still remembered”

Dempsey’s record stood for more than four decades. Matt Prater broke the record in 2013 with a 64-yard field goal in Denver.

Dr. Ray Authement, who served as the president of UL Lafayette for 34 years, has died. Current UL Lafayette President Joe Savoie says it was Autement’s own time in college that guided his handling of a student’s experience.

Cut 13 (12) “…could be successful.”

Upon his retirement in 2008, he was the longest-serving public university president in the United States.

COVID-19 is now to blame for 512 deaths linked to the illness in Louisiana.  Among them, a one day old infant in East Baton Rouge Parish.  The child died after being prematurely born due to complications stemming from her mother’s COVID-19 case.  The baby will be tested for coronavirus, but EBR Coroner Beau Clark says it’s not clear yet whether the virus is vertically transmissible.

Cut 7 (09) “…child.”

Former Saints kicker Tom Dempsey, who once held the NFL record for the longest made field goal, has died from complications of the coronavirus. He was 73. Demspey kicked 159 field goals in eleven NFL season, even though he was born without toes on his right foot. His former teammate and ex-Saints Q-B Billy Kilmer…

Cut 9 (11) “…he was.″

Normally. flu activity goes down at this time of the year.   However, State Immunization Director Dr. Frank Welch says the state has not yet seen that dip as one in ten visits to a doctor is for flu-like symptoms.Many of the spread mitigation efforts of coronavirus run parallel to combatting the flu as well.  Welch says the one big difference maker is having a vaccine for the flu.  While it doesn’t guarantee someone won’t get the flu, it will reduce the severity of the illness and reduce the chance of hospitalization.

Cut 5 (08)  “…want to avoid.”

Dr. Ray Authement, who served as the president of UL Lafayette for 34 years, has died at the age of 91.  Upon his retirement in 2008, he was the longest serving public university president in the United States.  Current UL Lafayette President Joe Savoie says Autement’s impact on the campus can still be seen today.

Cut 12 (10) “…changed the place.”