The hotel, which is the city’s fourth-largest with 1,110 rooms, joins the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in providing large-scale space that can be converted into overflow facilities for patients who are infected with the pathogen but no longer need hospital care.
The first 1,000 beds at the Convention Center are expected to be ready Monday, and Gov. John Bel Edwards has mandated that an additional 1,000 beds be installed there.
Seamstresses at New Iberia-based Action Specialties are turning out thousands of mask shields for Lafayette General’s frontline workers.
Programs typically strained in normal circumstances are poised to be slammed from two sides, as job losses surge people into unprecedented vulnerability and contributions dry up.
Of roughly 1,000 local businesses surveyed between March 19 and March 25, 91% expected revenue to decline.
The ambitious $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program passed by Congress one week ago to help small businesses weather the coronavirus crisis rolls out this morning amid confusion and mixed signals.
Updated federal guidelines for the program were not issued until late Thursday night in a 31-page “interim final rules” document, just hours before the PPP was supposed to begin accepting applications, and most banks are still not ready.
Source: Banks urge patience as PPP rollout gets off to a rocky start
Ochsner Health System officials will soon begin using rapid COVID-19 tests in their emergency rooms and other areas to screen out patients who have the disease, they said Thursday.
The tests by Abbott Laboratories were cleared by the Food and Drug Administration last week and were shipped to hospitals beginning Wednesday. Ochsner has received some of the tests kits as of Thursday. The 5-minute test joins another 45-minute test in Ochsner’s stockpile and the same-day tests it has had for weeks.
As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in Acadiana, state health officials on Thursday released new data showing in the seven-parish region that includes Lafayette, more than half the ventilators are in use and 81% of hospital intensive care unit beds are in use.
The New Orleans area is about two weeks ahead of Acadiana in the progression of the coronavirus pandemic, this region’s top public health official said Monday. If the number of cases and number of hospital admissions continue to grow, she said, in a few weeks Acadiana’s health care system could be “severely impacted.”
Nearly 1,000 people have been tested for COVID-19 at the Cajundome since March 18, but some still haven’t gotten their results back two weeks later.
Source: Coronavirus test results delayed for some tested at Cajundome
One Acadiana today announced the launch of a new Economic Recovery Toolkit for businesses facing economic hardship due to the coronavirus outbreak.
While coronavirus wreaks havoc on the restaurant industry, Acadiana’s iconic plate lunch houses persevere as tight-knit family businesses with strong neighborhood ties.
Compassionate policies will keep the lights on and people in their homes. Community advocates worry about the other foot dropping when the pandemic is over.
Lacking adequate healthcare, those who are unsheltered are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Local shelters are already at capacity, and more people are becoming homeless each day. It’s a public health problem, according to advocates.
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