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BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Health has updated its website to reflect the latest number of positives and will continue to update its website at noon each day.
As of noon on April 1, the Department reported 1,187 additional cases since yesterday, bringing the total to 6,424 positive cases. This is approximately a 23-percent increase since yesterday.

Hospitalization
A total of 1,498 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized; of those, 490 patients require ventilation.

Deaths
The Department reports an additional 34 deaths since yesterday, bringing the total to 273 deaths. Deaths are listed on the LDH dashboard by parish under the by parish tab and information by age can be found on the by age group tab.

Long-term care facilities
The Department of Health has identified COVID-19 clusters in 47 long-term care facilities in the state. For context, there are a total of 436 nursing homes and adult residential care facilities in Louisiana.
Below is the current list of confirmed clusters. These facilities have been notified by the Department of Health.
A cluster is identified as two or more cases that appear to be connected.
Because of the sheer volume of cases, we will be sharing the updated number of clusters every day at noon. We will rely on facilities for reporting on the most up-to-date information. The Department continues to work with facilities to minimize the spread of the illness and protect residents and staff.
A cluster is considered cleared 28 days after the last positive test result.

Region 1
Bayside Health
Chateau de Notre Dame
Chateau Living Center
Good Samaritan Rehab and Nursing Center
Inspired Living Kenner
Jefferson Healthcare
Jo Ellen Smith Living Center
John Berchmans
Lambeth House
Marrero Health Care Center
Metairie Healthcare
Nouveau Marc
Poydras Home
River Palm Nursing and Rehab
Riverbend Nursing and Rehab
Saint Jude's Nursing Home
Saint Martin's Manor
St Anthony's Nursing Home
St Francis Villa Assisted Living
St Joseph of Harahan
The Suites at Algiers Point
Vista Shores Assisted Living

Region 2
Chateau D'Ville Rehab and Retirement
Flannery Oaks Guest House
Haven’s Gateway Personal Care Facility Inc.
Lakeview Manor Nursing Home
Legacy Nursing and Rehabilitation
Legacy Nursing and Rehabilitation of Port Allen
Ollie Steele Burden Manor Nursing Home
St. James Place - Highland Court Nursing Home

Region 3
Chateau Saint James
Luling Living Center
Ormond Nursing and Care Center
South East Louisiana Veterans Home

Region 6
Colonial Nursing Home
Evergreen Life Services

Region 7
Brookdale Shreveport Assisted Living
Montclair Park Assisted Living Center
Vivian Healthcare Center

Region 8
Cherry Ridge Skilled Nursing Facility

Region 9
Belle Maison
Forest Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Green Briar Community Care
Guesthouse of Slidell Nursing Home
Oak Park Village
Pontchartrain Health Care
St. Anthony's Gardens
Dashboard information
The LDH dashboard now includes a new feature allowing site visitors to view positive case data over time. Click the over time tab at the bottom of the dashboard.

Volunteers
Medical volunteers interested in volunteering should register with Louisiana Volunteers in Action at www.lava.dhh.louisiana.gov. Medical and non-medical volunteers 18 years of age and older are welcome.

Crawfish producer Allen McLain’s business has dropped dramatically because of the coronavirus’ impact on the restaurant business.
“We’re struggling. It’s not looking good,” said McLain, of Abbeville.
A big portion of his business is selling his product to area restaurants, but he said that has been sharply reduced.
Crawfish are plentiful and have grown to a large size, but there’s a limited market. He said sales during the week are a fraction of his normal volume.
“The weekends are about average,” he said.
Normally, McLain’s workers would be bringing sacks of crawfish from his ponds.
“The ponds are just resting,” he said. “We’re not fishing a quarter what we need to be fishing.”
Mark Shirley, LSU AgCenter crawfish specialist, said McLain is enduring the same challenge faced by many producers. Buyers are limiting how much they will purchase from producers, he said.
Peeling plants can only process a limited amount because of restrictions on the number of workers who can occupy a facility and maintain social distancing, he said.
But Shirley said it may not be the time to drain ponds, even if producers have a serious loss of business. The current population will be needed to provide a supply next year, he said, and draining a field now would curtail that potential.
“You need to look ahead,” Shirley said.
For a rice farmer, draining a crawfish pond makes sense if the field is intended for a rice crop this year. The window recommended by the LSU AgCenter for planting a rice crop to obtain optimum results closes April 15.
A field planted in rice to be used for crawfish next year can be stocked with crawfish when the rice gets 10 to 12 inches tall, Shirley said.
But if the pond will be used for crawfish next year, the best strategy now is to leave it flooded and harvest crawfish to meet demand, Shirley said.
“Wait until May to slowly draw it down and let the crawfish burrow,” he said.
The burrowing crawfish will emerge after the summer and reestablish the population, he said.
Stocking crawfish in a rice field should be done at the rate of two to three sacks per acre with crawfish from healthy ponds. No white river crawfish should be used, he advised.
The stocking population should have at least 50% females, which can be determined by hand. He said details for determining the females can be found in the LSU AgCenter Crawfish Production Manual at https://www.lsuagcenter.com/topics/livestock/aquaculture/crawfish/crawfi....
If crawfish are stocked too early in a rice field, the crawfish will damage seedlings, he said.
Shirley is getting reports of fields that have been infected with white spot syndrome virus, which has been a problem for producers for several years. That’s expected for this time of year, he said, with warmer weather.
“If a pond is infected with white spot syndrome virus, we do not have enough information to make a confident recommendation to farmers,” he said. “Some ponds have had an outbreak again in the following season, and others have not.”
He said draining an affected field now to plant a rice crop is an option, but those fields would have to be restocked with crawfish.
In permanent pond situations, Shirley said, farmers can keep the pond flooded and drain in May or June.
“There may be enough crawfish to live thru the infection and survive until the fall to repopulate the pond,” he said. “There is no guarantee that the virus will not show up again next spring.”
Shirley warned that water from an infected pond could transmit the virus if it is pumped into other ponds.
He said a team of LSU AgCenter researchers has recently been awarded funds to investigate the factors surrounding the impact of white spot syndrome virus, including transmission vectors, viral resistance in crawfish and changes of the virus.
“Those efforts are just beginning and will likely take several years to come up with management recommendations,” he said.

DELCAMBRE – Private services were held for Doris Arcement Campbell, age 84, at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at Our Lady of the Lake Cemetery in Delcambre.Fr. Buddy Breaux officiated.
A native and resident of New Iberia, Mrs. Campbell passed away on Saturday, March 28, 2020, at Consolatta Nursing Home in New Iberia.
Born on March 25, 1936 to the late Joseph and Camilla Thibodeaux Arcement, Doris was one of eight children. She was a kind and caring woman who always put her family first. Doris was a dedicated wife, a loving mother, and a good friend who enjoyed the simple things in life. She was a devout and faithful parishioner of Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Delcambre. She loved life, loved her family, and after she retired from working at the Delcambre Shrimp processing plant, she loved sitting on her porch watching the humming birds and visiting with family and friends. Doris will be truly and deeply missed by all those who knew and loved her.
She is survived by her four sons, Manuel Campbell and wife Sandra of Youngsville, Andy Campbell and wife Jill of Delcambre, Toby Campbell and wife Shantelle of Erath, and Jason Campbell and wife Tiffany of Bob Acres; seven grandchildren, Drew Campbell, Lane Campbell, Alli Campbell, Dustin Campbell and wife Mikella and Matthew Campbell; two step grandchildren Brittany Laborie Trahan and husband Josh and Daniel Laborie; three step great grandchildren, Elise Trahan, Jasper Trahan, and Preston Laborie; and brothers, Robert “Bobby” Arcement and wife Betsy and Harry Arcement and wife Betty.
She is preceded in death by her loving husband, Manson Campbell; parents, Joseph and Camilla Thibodeaux Arcement; brothers, Edward Arcement and Minus Arcement; and sisters, Gloria Vincent, JoAnn Rivette, and Hazel LeBlanc.
Pallbearers were be members of the family.
Honorary pallbearers were Charles Campbell and Del Campbell.
To view the on-line obituary and sign the guest register, please visit www.evangelinefuneralhome.com.
Evangeline Funeral Homes, Inc. of Delcambre is in charge of arrangements.

March 31, 2020 | Baton Rouge, LA – Coronavirus numbers continue to skyrocket both in the country and in Louisiana. Worldwide, Coronavirus cases are zooming past 800,000.  Close to 40-thousand have died.  
The United States is far and away the leader in the pandemic, partly because Americans are far more mobile and testing has ramped up.  
Confirmed deaths: 2,467 Americans which will top 3,000 by late Tuesday.
In Louisiana, Department of Health numbers Tuesday noon exploded by 1,212 cases overnight with 54 more deaths, the most yet in a 24-hour period.  Fatalities were twice the day before which was twice the day before that.  The escalating figures mean Louisiana remains an epicenter of the Coronavirus outbreak, particularly in New Orleans.
In his daily press conferences at the Governor’s Office on Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Governor John Bel Edwards remains emphatic that people stay home and out of circulation, keep scrubbing their hands -theirs and their childrens’- and, if someone has to go out, they should wear masks and latex gloves.  
But thousands don’t have the option to stay at home.  Medical personnel, those delivering food and medicine, transportation workers, banks, gas stations, and even baristas at coffee shops are all considered essential.  Many of those workers are beginning to question how to balance their own personal safety with keeping their jobs.  Monday, thousands delivering food for the delivery service “Instacart” went on strike while other strikers walked out at an Amazon warehouse in New York because they say the companies are not doing enough to protect their health.  Tuesday, workers at Whole Foods called for a sick out.  They want paid leave, hazard pay and more testing for Covid-19, the Coronavirus.
“When people have to go to work,” said Governor Edwards, “the way they conduct themselves is the only thing that should give them peace of mind.  They should practice social distancing and all the other safeguards we’ve talked about -hand sanitizing, face masks.  But just because you have to get out and go to work every day doesn’t mean you have to stop at every establishment on the way home.  Just because you can go to the store doesn’t mean you should go every day and it doesn’t mean everybody in your household ought to be going.”   
That’s little comfort to one north Louisiana registered nurse.  Her mother posted on Facebook that her daughter had to quit her medical facility because of the lack of protective gear.  “My daughter is an RN,” she posted.  (We are protecting her identity.) “She has to give her notice.  Not enough protective gear.  Doesn’t want [to take] this virus home to her family.”
The Food and Drug Administration Monday approved a new Coronavirus test that gives results within fifteen minutes.  The new test is now in trials in Detroit but officials say they can ramp up rapidly.  Currently, getting results from coronavirus testing can take days.
But the new test may be too little too late for workers who are now faced with the dilemma of keeping their health while keeping their jobs.