Free masks available today
Courtesy graphic
This graph designed by Hunt, Guillot and Associates shows that while total COVID-19 cases in Louisiana continue to climb, daily case frequency (light blue line) is declining.
Lincoln Parish residents will be able to get free, reusable fabric facemasks today thanks to a donation from the Hanes clothing company to the state.
The masks will be distributed on a drive-thru first-come, first-serve basis at locations in each municipality for their residents, and at the Lincoln Parish Public Safety complex for people who live in unincorporated areas of the parish.
Masks will be limited to two per household, parish Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Kip Franklin said Thursday.
Here’s the schedule:
• Lincoln Parish rural residents — 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish Public Safety Complex, 161 Road Camp Rd., Ruston
• Ruston — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sports Complex, U.S. 167 South. Enter from U.S. 167 only.
• Grambling – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the fire station, 562 Stadium Dr.
• Simsboro — 10 a.m. to noon, Town Hall, 2742 Martha St.
• Dubach — 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Town Hall, 7839 Annie Lee St.
• Choudrant — noon to 2 p.m. at the fire station, 2520 Hwy. 80.
• Vienna — date and time to be announced.
Hanes gave Louisiana more than two million washable, cotton masks that were then allotted to parishes based on 40% of the parish’s population. The Centers for Disease Control recommends wearing a mask or other face covering while grocery shopping, going to the pharmacy or other public places as part of the effort to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Meantime, the Louisiana Department of Health has now confirmed a third Lincoln Parish resident has died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
Known cases of COVID-19 continue to escalate locally and across the state, though generally not with the frequency they did several weeks ago.
As of noon Thursday, Lincoln Parish had 62 confirmed cases of COVID-19. That’s a jump of four cases since Wednes day’s report. But that doesn’t mean four more people became ill overnight.
It means four additional positive test results have made it into the LDH system. The 62 cases also includes the three patients who have died, as well as patients who have recovered.
No recovery statistics are available because LDH doesn’t track them.
Some 313 parish residents have been tested for the virus since the state began tracking COVID-19 in March.
There are now 25,839 confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide; 1,540 people have died from the disease.
