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LAPLACE — As of the Saturday update from the Louisiana Department of Health, there have been 338 reported cases of COVID-19 and 23 deaths in St. John the Baptist Parish.

On Friday, there were 290 recorded cases and 17 deaths in St. John Parish.

As of Saturday at noon, St. Charles Parish has 252 reported cases and 12 deaths, while St. James has 150 reported cases and six deaths.

Statewide, there are 12,496 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 61 parishes. This marks an increase of 2,199 cases since yesterday’s report.

Three Louisiana parishes have not reported cases, though Governor John Bel Edwards said he is certain the virus has spread in all 64 parishes. There have been 409 deaths, up 39 from Friday. The first death in the state was reported on March 14.

According to the Louisiana Department of Health, there are 1,726 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state. Of these patients, 571 are on ventilators.

This data is updated daily at noon.

Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that Vice President Mike Pence confirmed Louisiana will receive an additional 200 ventilators from the federal Strategic National Stockpile in response to the coronavirus pandemic. With this commitment, Louisiana will have received a total of 350 ventilators from SNS. They are expected to arrive soon.

“We are grateful to both President Donald Trump and Vice President Pence for keeping Louisiana at the forefront of this fight against COVID-19 and appreciate them understanding the necessity of these ventilators for the survival of our people, especially in light of today’s sobering numbers. I spoke to the Vice President this morning and reiterated Louisiana’s ongoing needs,” said Gov. Edwards. “Based on our modeling, we know that we will exceed our capacity to deliver health care to those who need it, first in the New Orleans area, but because of these ventilators and others that we are sourcing around the world, we will be able to prolong that inevitable day and have fewer people go with unmet medical needs.

“However, the degree to which we are able to prevent overwhelming our hospitals depends on people’s compliance of the Stay at Home Order and other mitigation measures,” Gov. Edwards said. “We know that social distancing efforts work and will in fact flatten the curve. I am imploring all of our people to stay home, slow the spread and save lives.”

In addition to the ventilators, Louisiana is getting several hundred thousand surgical gowns for the medical community in the Greater New Orleans area.

To date, Louisiana has received a total of 553 ventilators. The first shipment from SNS of 150 ventilators was announced on March 30 and arrived days later.

• 150 – SNS (an additional 200 ventilators are expected soon)
• 400 – Private vendors
• 3 – Louisiana National Guard