[News] Seven Disturbing Facts About COVID-19 in Louisiana

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/08/seven-disturbing-facts-about-covid-19-in-louisiana/
Seven
Disturbing Facts About COVID-19 in LouisianaApril 8, 2020 - Bill Quigley
<https://www.counterpunch.org/author/klebri/>

Photograph Source: Louisiana National Guard – CC BY 2.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/>

*Virus Raging.* Statewide Louisiana is second
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/>
only to New York in deaths per 100,000 people with 582 reported
<https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_139dd82a-78ec-11ea-b8c4-5f458d197eab.html>
as of April 7. Six parishes (counties) in the New Orleans area are in the top
ten in deaths
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-orleans-area-has-worst-coronavirus-death-rate-in-u-s-11586008800>
of all the counties in the nation: St. John the Baptist, Orleans, St.
Charles, Jefferson, St. James and Plaquemines, according to the Wall Street
Journal
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-orleans-area-has-worst-coronavirus-death-rate-in-u-s-11586008800>
.

*Race.* Louisiana is 32 percent African American
<https://worldpopulationreview.com/states/louisiana-population/>. Yet 70
percent <http://ldh.la.gov/Coronavirus/> of COVID 19 deaths in Louisiana
are of African Americans. “”These differences are produced by policy, not
physiology,” Dillard Professor Amy Lesen told the Advocate
<https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_d804d410-7852-11ea-ac6d-470ebb61c694.html>.
“They’re based on race and class bias in the health care system, access to
health care and preventative care.” Similar disproportionate impacts have
been observed in Chicago and Milwaukee. This shows the pandemic is
following patterns of entrenched inequalities in economic and medical
opportunities.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/us/coronavirus-race.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage>

*Nursing Homes.* There are 436 nursing homes
<https://www.kalb.com/content/news/COVID-19-clusters-at-La-nursing-homes-569433371.html>
in the state. Fifteen days ago, there were 3 nursing homes
<https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_6bdd095e-6c4c-11ea-a04e-938128c9d500.html>
with more than one person infected. Inside those homes 363 patients
<https://www.kalb.com/content/news/COVID-19-clusters-at-La-nursing-homes-569433371.html>
have been identified as carrying COVID 19, one hundred more than last week
<https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_d7147e0a-781d-11ea-9d98-dbfdc9d9f679.html>.
More than 103 people have died in these homes and more than 70 homes
<https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_d7147e0a-781d-11ea-9d98-dbfdc9d9f679.html>
have at least one person with the virus. There are now 47 nursing homes
<https://www.kalb.com/content/news/COVID-19-clusters-at-La-nursing-homes-569433371.html>
with more than 1 person infected.

*Prisons.* A federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, the first inmate died
<https://www.kplctv.com/2020/03/30/st-federal-inmate-dies-covid-fci-oakdale-i/>
March 29, by now five inmates have died and 22 others tested positive
<https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/06/politics/aclu-prison-deaths-louisiana/index.html>
for the virus.

State prisons reported their first positive on March 28
<https://doc.louisiana.gov/doc-covid-19-testing/>, now 28 prisoners
<https://doc.louisiana.gov/doc-covid-19-testing/> have been reported
positive. Additionally, 26 staff have tested positive
<https://doc.louisiana.gov/doc-covid-19-testing/>. All family visits have
been cancelled <https://doc.louisiana.gov/> for weeks as have pardon and
parole hearings <https://doc.louisiana.gov/>. The New Orleans jail reports 15
inmates positive
<https://thelensnola.org/2020/04/06/sheriffs-office-confirms-15-new-orleans-inmates-positive-for-coronavirus-advocates-in-motorcade-protest-for-more-releases/>
for the virus.

*Immigrants.* ICE holds 8,000 immigrants in jail in Louisiana
<https://apnews.com/c72d49a100224cb5854ec8baea095044>. The first ICE case
outside of Oakdale has been reported in Pine Prairie Louisiana
<https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/american-south/2020/04/03/coronavirus-ice-detainee-tests-positive-pine-prairie-louisiana/2946110001/>.
Immigrant women in ICE jails in Louisiana protesting inadequate coronavirus
protections were pepper sprayed
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-women-ice-custody-louisiana-release-covid-19/>.
The women were being held in a housing area with 80 other women
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-women-ice-custody-louisiana-release-covid-19/>
where the bunks are less than a meter apart. Women in other ICE jails made
a video shared with The Intercept
<https://theintercept.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-ice-detention/> trying to
alert the world to their plight.

*Unemployment.* Louisiana usually gets about 1,500 applications for
unemployment a week Two weeks ago they received over 70,000
<https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_a406bf54-6d5b-11ea-81e1-7b758c76f8d9.html?fbclid=IwAR0zsb5V-w6jJde-F06cJavcJNAyd4q43MKKm-8g7Lsylck1yLFxwgSK41s>.
The max benefit for Louisiana workers is $247 a week
<http://www.laworks.net/Downloads/PR/COVID_19_Information.pdf>, lowest in
the nation
<https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_a406bf54-6d5b-11ea-81e1-7b758c76f8d9.html?fbclid=IwAR0zsb5V-w6jJde-F06cJavcJNAyd4q43MKKm-8g7Lsylck1yLFxwgSK41s>.
No one in Louisiana
<https://www.knoe.com/content/news/How-to-apply-for-unemployment-in-La-during-COVID-19-pandemic-569357941.html>
has received a federal check for the additional $600 promised.

*Bill Quigley teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and can be
reached at quigley77 at gmail.com <quigley77 at gmail.com>.*
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