NEW ORLEANS — The coronavirus death rate here hovered at 40 per 100,000 Sunday as the state’s fatalities surged close to 500 and the virus continued to tear through the state’s elderly living environments.
As of noon April 5, Louisiana attributed 477 deaths to the coronavirus and the total number of positive cases climbed to 13,010, according to the state’s Department of Health.
Those figures were released against a backdrop of reports that coronavirus deaths were ravaging the New Orleans population at a more furious rate than New York City, as the two metropolises vie for an unenviable crown as the most coronavirus-lethal in the U.S.
Gov. John Bel Edwards linked the high number of fatalities in New Orleans and the nearby St. John the Baptist Parish to Louisiana’s famously unhealthy population, where a diet rich in fried foods and butter, along with a culture saturated with liquor, contribute to high rates of obesity and other health issues.
For a time, the LDH provided breakdowns of underlying medical conditions of those whose deaths were chalked up to coronavirus, but it has since stopped doing so.
On March 31, the last day on which such information appears in the LDH’s daily breakdowns, 40% of people who died from coronavirus also suffered from diabetes, while 25% had obesity, 23% had chronic kidney disease and cardiac issues were listed for 21%.
The state had 1,803 people hospitalized as of Sunday due to coronavirus. Consistently, 561 — about 30% — of those have needed ventilators.
The statistics show 54% of the state’s cases are focused in New Orleans and adjoining Jefferson Parish and those two parishes have also witnessed 57% of the state’s deaths.
Just northwest up the Mississippi River, St. John the Baptist Parish has seen 345 coronavirus patients of whom 24 have died, a nearly 7% rate that is almost double the rate in Jefferson Parish (3.6%) and much higher than New Orleans (3.9%), according to LDH tables.
Since the coronavirus first infected people in Wuhan, China, last year it has preyed on the elderly with a particular vengeance and that appears to be a significant factor in Louisiana’s outbreak, the LDH figures show.
On March 30, for example, clusters of COVID-19 had been identified in 40 of Louisiana’s 436 nursing homes or assisted living facilities. That figure skyrocketed to 61 such facilities Sunday.
• James Varney can be reached at jvarney@washingtontimes.com.
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