Together Louisiana wants the federal response to COVID 19 testing to focus on Louisiana. The organization held a virtual press conference earlier today (March 20) to express concerns.
“Louisiana and New York are now the regional centers for this pandemic in the United States, said Rev. Theron Jackson. “Louisiana will soon surpass Washington State in per capita deaths. New Orleans is the epicenter of this public health crisis in our state. We are grateful for the leadership on a state level from Gov. John Bel Edwards, but we are deeply concerned about the Federal response to testing.”
Together Louisiana is made up of more than 250 congregations and civic institutions from around the state. The organization has been working virtually since the Covid-19 outbreak began to connect their institutions and leaders.
Rev. Jackson said, “Now more than ever public life must continue. We will as we did in the flood of 2016 or other natural disasters, continue to draw attention and respond to the crisis at hand.”
Together Louisiana is urging the CDC to prioritize regional testing capacity by the severity of that region’s outbreaks.
“We want the CDC to recognize that our numbers are rising,” said organizer Lady Carlson. “We’ve seen a focus on Washington state, California, New York state – rightly so but per capita, our numbers – we’re going to see – keep rising. Bulk of the deaths are in the Greater New Orleans area.”
As of 7 p.m. Friday, March 20, Louisiana by the numbers for the COVID-19 cases are as follows:
- 537 cases in across 28 parishes in Louisiana
- At 326, New Orleans has the most coronavirus cases in the state
- 14 COVID-19 related deaths
