The coronavirus has forced many businesses to cut back their operations. (Photo: STAR FILE PHOTO)
Louisiana’s Department of Health said it won’t provide the regular daily update Thursday on coronavirus cases, deaths, hospitalizations and other developments.
The agency issued the following notice on its coronavirus dashboard: “LDH is reviewing all data and will not be updating its dashboard today.”
This comes a day after the state reported its largest single-day surge in COVID-19 cases in more than two months.
The health department reported 928 new cases Wednesday, noting that 129 are related to backlogs from tests between April 1 and April 9.
But even without the backlog the new single-day case count was the highest since April 10.
That followed three straight days of an increase in hospitalizations, although that number decreased by three to 585 Wednesday.
The governor on Wednesday expressed concern about potential speed bumps stalling progress in the coronavirus fight.
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“Quite frankly, we’re a little bit concerned about increases in hospitalizations,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday during his monthly radio show on WRKF.
But the governor said his concern doesn’t approach alarm because the state’s hospital capacity isn’t threatened and noted the state remains “much better off than a few months ago.”
He has scheduled a 2:30 p.m. Thursday press conference.
Louisiana also reported 20 more COVID-19 deaths Wednesday as the toll rose to 2,950.
The state is in the midst of Edwards’ 21-day Phase 2 reopening order that began June 5.
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
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