BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two workers at Louisiana state prisons have tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing some inmates into quarantine and heightening concerns that the tightly packed populations are at risk for an outbreak in a state where the virus’s death toll exceeded 100 Friday.
The Louisiana Department of Corrections announced the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a statement Thursday evening that didn’t name the two prisons where the employees worked, citing security concerns. The workers had limited contact with other staff and inmates and were isolated at home, the agency said. No inmates have tested positive for the virus, the Corrections Department said, and inmates who may have been exposed to the workers are quarantined.
“The reality is we are all at risk to this virus,” Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc said in the statement. “Early on, we activated our department regulations and prison policies and took proactive measures in preparation for COVID-19. We have continuously educated and kept our prison population and staff informed on protocols and procedures aimed at reducing the risk of exposure.”
Civil rights groups have urged Gov. John Bel Edwards to take additional public health precautionary measures in Louisiana’s prison facilities, to protect the people housed in state custody and educate the staff about how to avoid disease spread.
“Imprisoned and detained people are highly vulnerable to outbreaks of contagious illnesses such as COVID-19. They are housed in close quarters and are often in poor health. Without the active engagement of those who administer the facility, they have little ability to learn about ongoing public health crises or to take necessary preventative measures,” the ACLU of Louisiana, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other organizations wrote in a letter to the Democratic governor earlier this month.
Louisiana has surpassed 2,700 people known to be infected with the virus, with 119 residents dead from COVID-19, according to the state Health Department. Edwards said Louisiana is tied with New Jersey for the second-highest rate of virus cases per capita, with the New Orleans region on track to run out of ventilators to care for the hardest-hit patients by the first week of April.
Although most people recover and many suffer only mild symptoms, COVID-19 can cause serious illness including respiratory problems for some, including the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. The disease is highly contagious.
While Louisiana’s virus hot spot remained New Orleans, troubling signs emerged of a spike in cases in the Shreveport/Bossier City area in northwest Louisiana, prompting Edwards to question whether enough people were following his calls to minimize contact with others and complying with his statewide “stay-at-home” order.
In New Orleans, city officials were working to temporarily move the homeless off the streets and into a hotel.
Meanwhile, state and city leaders were scrambling to create more hospital space to handle the expected surge in infected patients. The New Orleans convention center will serve as an overflow site, with the first 120-bed unit ready by the end of the weekend, Edwards said. Medical students were getting credentialed early, so hospitals can quickly hire them and fill staffing shortages.
President Donald Trump also agreed to create two 250-bed federal field hospitals in Louisiana, providing a 60-person “strike team” of health care workers to staff the sites, Edwards said. The White House also was sending a CDC epidemiology team to help with the state’s response to “clusters” of coronavirus cases identified at six nursing homes.
With widespread business shutdowns because of the “stay-at-home” order, Louisiana’s economic development agency created a state hotline for business questions related to COVID-19.