Doctors, officials issue plea for safe practices

Published 6:00 pm Friday, July 10, 2020

covid cases by parish march 14 – july 8

Compiled by Paul Hippman / Special to the American PressSWLA cases updated july 9SWLA cases updated july 9

Several local doctors and elected officials pleaded with Southwest Louisiana residents Thursday to stop the spread of COVID-19 by wearing a mask in public and continuing to socially distance and wash their hands frequently.

The local medical community discussed the challenges hospitals are facing as local case numbers continue to rise. Dr. Lacey Cavanaugh, Region 5 Office of Public Health director, said Southwest Louisiana has seen substantial growth in recent weeks of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Deaths from COVID-19 aren’t limited to the elderly.

“This disease is not just the flu,” she said. “It seems to spread much more rapidly, and it can be more deadly.”

Dr. Manley Jordan, chief medical officer at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, said the number of COVID cases peaked the first week in April, with 32 patients. That continued to decline, with the hospital reporting zero new COVID patients the week of May 25-29. After Memorial Day, the number of new positive cases began to grow, he said, especially among younger people. He said roughly one in four residents in the community are now testing positive for COVID.

“We’re getting close to meeting a threshold where it’s challenging to maintain the standard of care we are dedicated to,” Jordan said.

Kevin Holland, CEO of Christus Ochsner Health System, said St. Patrick Hospital is seeing record levels of COVID cases over the past two to three weeks. He said treatments have improved over the past few months, but much about COVID remains unknown.

“This thing’s not going away anytime in the near future,” he said.

Dr. Cliff Courville, pulmonary and critical care physician at Memorial Hospital, said, as of Thursday, there were 19 patients in the hospital’s COVID-19 intensive care unit, 10 of them on ventilators. The COVID ICU only has 16 beds, he said.

Courville said there were nine patients in the COVID ICU on July 1.

“You can anticipate what things might look like in nine more days,” he said. “It’s frustrating for us. We feel this sort of sense of impending doom, as there is no end in sight to what we see coming through our door every day.”

Dr. Danette Null, program director for the LSU Family Medicine residency program in Lake Charles, said the main concern lies with community spread. She said no one in the residency program has been infected by seeing patients because they wear masks at work. However, she said some in the program have become infected by interacting with the community. At one point, 13 staff members were quarantined at the same time.

“Think about your actions and how you affect other people,” Null said. “I’m not wearing a mask as a political statement. I’m wearing (one) because I feel like it helps me not only protect my family, but love my neighbor.”

One area of good news, Jordan said, is the mortality rate has dropped from 22 percent early on, to 4 percent currently.

Cavanaugh said residents are recommended to consider their symptoms before returning to work, instead of using a test-based strategy. She said a person who tests positive for COVID must wait at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms, and at least three days from the symptoms declining, before returning to work.

Those who test positive and show no symptoms should wait at least 10 days before returning to work. Those who come into close contact with a known COVID-19 case should self-isolate for 14 days. Cavanaugh referred to the PCR test, or a nose or throat swab that tells if a person is currently infectious.

Karl Bruchhaus, Calcasieu School Board superintendent, discussed the scheduled plans for the upcoming school year. Elementary school students will be put in static groups, where a student remains with the same class of fellow students throughout the school day.

Class sizes for middle and high schools will be reduced to allow for social distancing, Bruchhaus said. Arrows and decals will be posted to get students to their next class quickly. Foam hand sanitizer stations will be installed in all classrooms parishwide. Students will have their temperature checked daily, he said.

“We’ve had a lot of folks who have reached out and said they are ready to come back,” he said. “So we’re going to try and protect them to the greatest degree we can while they’re there.”

A full virtual classroom option is also available for all students, Bruchhaus said.

Stitch Guillory, Calcasieu Sheriff’s Office chief deputy, said not wearing a mask is irresponsible for citizens parishwide. He said it puts law enforcement, health care workers and other employees that interact regularly with the public at risk.

“You put all of us in jeopardy,” Guillory said. “If you don’t have to expose those people to COVID, please just be smart and think about the families you can affect. Our biggest challenge is to protect our workforce. Without one, we can’t do our jobs the right way.”

Last week, the Sheriff’s Office made it mandatory to wear a mask in their buildings. Also, a trace contact team was put in place after a number of employees tested positive for COVID. These efforts, Guillory said, have helped reduce the number of employees who have tested positive, along with lowering the employees in quarantine.

Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said visitors are required to wear a mask upon entry into a city building or riding on a city bus, starting today.

Two food distribution events are scheduled for the public. The first is 11 a.m.-1 p.m. July 16 at the Lake Charles Civic Center. The other is 11 a.m.-1 p.m. July 30 at the Beauregard Parish fairgrounds. Each event will have enough food for 700 cars.