Parish coronavirus cases still at 13

For the first time in six days, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Lincoln Parish is unchanged.

Late Thursday afternoon Gov. John Bel Edwards extended the Louisiana COVID-19 “Stay at Home” order until April 30.

Lincoln Parish has 13 cases, according to updated figures released at noon Thursday by the Louisiana Department of Health. That’s the same number the parish had on Wednesday.

However, the number of tests conducted in the parish continues to rise.

Thursday’s report showed 178 tests, compared to 156 on Monday and 175 on Wednesday.

Of the 178 tests, 12 were tests received by state and local health departments from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention, while 166 were commercially developed tests done at health care facilities.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide jumped to 9,150.

That’s 2,726 more than the previous report.

“While extremely upsetting, this increase in COVID-19 cases appears to be less a sign of new exponential growth and more a sign of a logjam from commercial labs,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement released through the LDH.

“I am pleased to see a ramp up in testing across the state,” the governor said. “We need this energy and commitment to continue. It’s important to understand that what’s happening in Louisiana with the increased testing is also happening around the country. That said, as more and more commercial labs come online our different data systems must learn to talk to one another.

“I have said time and again — COVID-19 is a statewide problem and testing is a vital step toward understanding the scale of this problem. We believe COVID-19 is spreading in every parish in Louisiana.”

Thursday’s data showed the virus has been confirmed in 61 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes.

So far, 310 Louisianans have died from the virus.