LAFAYETTE, La. — On Monday, April 27, the Lafayette Consolidated Government held a media briefing on the parish's response to COVID-19.
During the briefing, Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory announced that LCG employees will report back to work on Monday, May 4. He did not, however, provide a date for when LCG buidlings and facilities will be open to the public.
According to LCG, more than 50% of its employees have been working since the outbreak begin in Lafayette and many of them were able to work remotely.
Guillory said that LCG is continuing to work diligently to follow federal guidelines and the emergency declarations from Gov. John Bel Edwards to get local businesses up and running again.
He said that he was having no problems with businesses following the Safe Shop Policy and that the fire and police departments reporting businesses were being proactive during their compliance checks.
Guillory said that he has not recieved a response to the letter that he and other municipal leaders sent to the governor urging him to allow parishes and local governments to determine how to reopen their economies. He said that he anticipates more guidance on reopening from the governor later in the day.
“When you allow local leaders to lead, you get more tailored solutions to a problem,” said Guillory.
Guillory also addressed the fact that a spike in cases was not seen in Lafayette Parish after the Easter weekend. He said that he didn't want this to cause complacency for residents and urged everyone to continue to exercise social distancing practices.
"The war is not over," said Guillory.
He also advised residents to continue washing their hands vigorously throughout the day and encouraged them to wear a mask when they go to the grocery store.
Guillory warned that there is little more than a month before Hurricane Season begins on June 1. He urged residents to make sure they are stocked up on essentials like food, water, batteries and fuel for generators.
On Monday, Lafayette Parish reported 443 caes of COVID-19 and a total of 18 deaths. This includes 1 new death reported on Monday due to COVID-19, which is the first death reported in the parish in more than a week.
The number of positive cases were reported on a base of 8,234 cases, which went down significantly from more than 17,000 on Friday after the Louisiana Department of Health changed how it reports cases in each parish.
Guillory said that the change in the number of cases attributed to Lafayette Parish was because more than half of the tests in the parish performed since March 18 were for residents of parishes other than Lafayette.
He added that the number of tests more accurately rate the number of cases in the parish. He also said that the rate of infection is low, at 5.4%, and indicates relatively low rate of infection, which is an encouraging statistic.
As of Sunday, April 26, there were 443 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Lafayette Parish, with 17 deaths.
Across the state, there were 26,773 cases of coronavirus with 1,670 deaths. In total, 14,927 coronavirus patients are presumed to have recovered from the virus.
The Louisiana Department of Health updates the state's numbers at noon each day.
For the latest from LDH, click here.
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