Latest Weather Blog
WBRZ News
BATON ROUGE – The governor issued a statewide stay at home order. The order is now in place after starting at 5 p.m. Monday, March 23, through April 30.
After warning earlier in the week, the order was extended to April 30, on Thursday (4/2/20). The order is in line with federal social distancing guidelines updated at the end of March.
The order keeps schools closed.
The state education department is expected to announce plans for the future of the school year as early as Friday (4/3) or early next week. Governor John Bel Edwards said he did not want to speculate, but said the decision released by the state's education chiefs is not expected to impact a student's ability to get TOPS.
More will be released in the coming days, the governor said.
CLICK HERE to read the order from the governor's office.
Here’s the official order from @LouisianaGov @WBRZ pic.twitter.com/lXC4FoNd5H
— Johnston von Springer (@johnstonvon) March 22, 2020
The original order was scheduled to expire Sunday, April 12. It was extended to April 30.
Click HERE for patient stats and other health information.
Click HERE for live video breaking news reports from WBRZ and WBRZ Plus.
Click HERE for a government chart and more FAQs
For businesses, the order limits the following examples:
Places of public amusement, whether indoors or outdoors – amusement rides, carnivals, water parks, aquariums, zoos, museums, arcades, children’s play centers, playgrounds, theme parks, theaters, concert and similar venues, adult entertainment places, racetracks and other like businesses.
Barber shops, spas, salons, massage parlors, tattoo businesses, similar businesses.
Indoor malls (except for stores in a mall that have a direct outdoor entrance and exit that provide essential services and products as provided by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidelines)
Businesses closed to the public can conduct necessary activities without opening to customers. Activities include payroll, cleaning, maintenance or upkeep.
Businesses should see if operations adhere to the the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidelines posted HERE for more information.
Some businesses not ordered to temporarily close must have minimum contact with members of the public and essential employees should use proper distancing and adhere to the 10-person gathering limit on number of people involved in a closed area.
Child care and early learning centers should adhere to guidelines issued by the state education department and may continue to operate, the order allowed.
State offices are closed to the public.
Workforce functions allowed:
Healthcare workers and caregivers
Mental health and social service workers
Pharmacies
Grocery stores and workers involved with supporting operations from pharmacies and other food and beverage products.
Restaurants operating under the previous carry-out and take-out or delivery rules.
Electricity and utilities
Critical manufacturing and its employees ((medical supply chains, energy, transportation, food, chemicals)
Farm workers
Petroleum, natural and propane gas workers
Transportation and logistics workers
Communications and information technology operations and its employees
Financial, banking operations and its employees
Business managers should consult the federal reference material posted here.
The Department of Health has issued new guidance limiting all surgeries unless the procedure is for the treatment of a medical emergency or life-saving measures.
The effort is a move to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus. Click HERE for the latest patient information in Louisiana.
Click HERE for late-breaking live reports related to the virus in Louisiana.
In an annual extended Atlantic Basin hurricane season forecast, tropical experts at Colorado State University are projecting slightly above normal activity for the 2020 season. Their outlook calls for 16 named storms and 8 hurricanes with 4 being considered major (category 3 strength or higher). Annual averages are 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.
Dr. Philip Klotzbach and the research team cited an absence of El Niño the potential for weak La Niña conditions by the middle of summer. Additionally, sea surface temperatures across the Atlantic Basin are slightly above average and are forecast to remain that way.
La Niña is a pattern, which favors much more activity in the Atlantic Basin during hurricane season. During La Niña, trade winds weaken over the Atlantic Ocean creating a supportive environment for tropical cyclone formation.
Warm sea surface temperatures enhance evaporation and cloud development. In the presence of favorable winds, heat energy from the oceans promotes tropical cyclone strengthening.
Some other probabilities given are as follows:
At least one major (category 3-5) hurricane landfall on each of the following coastal areas:
-Entire U.S. coastline: 69% (average for last century is 52%)
-U.S. East Coast Including Peninsula Florida: 45% (average for last century is 31%)
-Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle westward to Brownsville: 44% (average for last century is 30%)
As defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacific—the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or “ENSO” for short. Keep in mind that El Niño and La Niña do not “cause” any one specific weather event; rather the two phases of ENSO influence change in global climate patterns that then increase the likelihood of specific weather events. Once again, ENSO is not “to blame” for any one storm system, temperature anomaly or hurricane. If La Niña does indeed develop, the Atlantic Basin faces an increased chance at above average tropical activity. Despite higher chances, it is much too early to determine where storms will develop or where they will go.
The forecast is based on an extended-range early April statistical prediction scheme that was developed using 38 years of past data. These seasonal forecasts were originally developed by the late Dr. William Gray, who was lead author on these predictions for over 20 years and continued as a co-author until his death in 2018. You can review the entire prediction, the scientific explanation and the reason such a forecast is made, RIGHT HERE. Seasonal updates are issued on June 1 and August 3.
The researchers at Colorado State University and the WBRZ Weather Team remind that “it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for you,” so prepare accordingly. NOAA’s official outlook is expected in Late May. For more on the season ahead and preparedness, visit wbrz.com/weather and click on the hurricane center.
CENTRAL – Pastor Tony Spell, the leader of Life Tabernacle Church who has defied a state-wide stay at home order and has held Sunday service amid growing coronavirus cases, was issued a misdemeanor summons to appear in court for violating the state's ban on large crowds amid the growing coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world.
Since the governor's order banning large gatherings and telling people to stay at home and only leave for essential activities, Spell has held six services at his Central campus.
He was given the summons for six counts of rule violations, which is considered an arrest, police said, for each of the six gatherings.
Central Police issued what are essentially tickets, though amount to an arrest in the eyes of the court, Tuesday.
Wednesday morning, the district attorney's office in East Baton Rouge signed off on the charges, filing all six with the court through what's called a bill of information. The charges are related to services with large gatherings held at the Central church on March 17; two services - one in the morning and one in the evening of March 22; March 24 and two services again on March 29.
Tuesday night, just hours after being served with the court summons, Spell again invited hundreds of people to his church for an evening service.
Police previously said after the arrest, court officials would have to take the next step: "It's about the safety of our community; [The charge and what happens next] is in the hands of the district attorney and the courts now," police said during a news conference live on WBRZ News 2 at Noon Tuesday.
DA Hillar Moore told WBRZ that if Spell does hold more services, like he did on Tuesday night, it's up to law enforcement to address the situation as they see fit.
Spell previously said he sees church congregations as essential in the trying times of the rapid virus spread.
Police responded: "We tried to give him a chance to do what's right."
Spell hired ex-judge and Alabama politician Roy Moore to represent him. Spell said he and Moore will hold a news conference Thursday.
EDITORIAL NOTE: WBRZ will not broadcast defiant Central pastor’s remarks today - Instead, we’ll pass along any pertinent information on TV and online through our team of journalists. Watch News 2 at Noon, 4, 5, 6, 6:30, 10 and 10:30.
Spell appeared on Dr. Phil's TV show seen on WBRZ Channel 2 Thursday (3/26). Last week on the TV show, he vowed to continue holding church service.
Click HERE for the latest patient and health information related to COVID-19.
“We feel that we are as an essential part of our community as the retail stores,” he said in the recorded interview with Dr. Phil.
Spell claims up to a thousand people join him at the church across the street from Blackwater Conservation Area on Hooper Road, though law enforcement sources believe far fewer have actually attended.
“It is in persecution of the faith for us to be asked to close our doors whenever more people are being contacted in those Targets and Walmarts than are in my service,” Spell said in the Dr. Phil episode.
Dr. Phil is seen daily on WBRZ Channel 2 at 3 p.m. followed by WBRZ News 2 at 4:00.
Click HERE to see more video of the interview from the Dr. Phil show website.
**************
Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz
BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's number of coronavirus cases surged over 9,000 Thursday in the wake of increased testing statewide, officials said.
During a Thursday morning radio interview, Governor John Bel Edwards indicated that the number of coronavirus-infected Louisiana residents is likely to spike Thursday afternoon. He explained this is due to a backlog of patient information from private labs that has only just now been sent to Louisiana's Department of Health.
A total of 18 EBR Parish residents and two individuals from out-of-state have succumbed to coronavirus-related health complications in East Baton Rouge Parish, the area's Coroner, Dr. William "Beau" Clark, revealed via a statement released Thursday (April 2) morning.
The West Baton Rouge coroner also reported that three more coronavirus-related deaths occurred in that parish, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths in WBR to four, as of Thursday (April 2). The latest deaths involved people ages 73, 76, and 58.
Governor Edwards pointed to new data Wednesday saying that the state is still on the same trajectory as it was last week, possibly leading to a situation similar to that in Italy, though that could change if residents stick to social distancing guidelines.
Edwards also noted that numbers in the Orleans/Jefferson Parish area are "starting to flatten" though there is still progress to be made.
The numbers below only show the amount of patients hospitalized and do not indicate if those who are not in the care of doctors, and presumably self-isolating at home and away from people, have fully recovered. The state was pointed in its description of how to describe a recovered patient: "A person is considered recovered when it has been at least seven days after the onset of illness, AND at least three day after resolution of fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications) AND resolution or improvement in respiratory symptoms."
Our Lady of the Lake, Baton Rouge General and Ochsner are treating patients.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE BREAKING NEWS REPORTS
The below map is provided by the state and is updated at noon daily; Cases released by hospitals or local governments during the day are not reported in the map until the next reporting deadline.
The tabs at the bottom of the map can be used to navigate limited information about the patients, including age groups.
To combat the spread, the state issued a stay-at-home order beginning Monday, March 23 at 5 p.m. Many places where gatherings would happen: Bars, dine-in restaurants, gyms, theaters and other businesses were ordered closed earlier in the month.
Click HERE for more information on the order to stay at home.
Set to expire in mid-April, the governor said at a news conference on Sunday, March 29, the order may need to be extended after April 13 and any decision will be made closer to the originally-scheduled end date of the order. On Monday (March 30), the governor said he'll make a decision on the stay at home order and social distancing guidelines by the end of the week (March 30-April 3).
Officials are hoping to reach a peak where the virus spread will not top the available healthcare resources in Louisiana.
The Louisiana Department of Health reported the state's first positive case of the virus at an Orleans Parish hospital March 9. The Department of Health said the initial case was not travel-related and was "community acquired."
The CDC is also urging all large events and mass gatherings, for 8 weeks, to cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States to help prevent the spread.
The state has launched a hotline to answer the public's questions about the virus. Anyone looking to use the service can dial 2-1-1 to be connected to the network. Written answers can be answered online at www.la211help.org.
Desktop News
Click to open Continuous News in a sidebar that updates in real-time.
Want to be a guest on the Noon News?
Want someone from your event or organization to be a guest on the Noon News? Click here to fill out our Noon News Guest Request form!
News Video
-
Explained: Who gets gov stimulus checks and how
-
Measures put in place to help those struggling to pay rent
-
Gov. Edwards encourages public to heed safety guidlines to continue to reduce...
-
LA National Guard shipping ventilators, PPE to assist COVID-19 response
-
Louisiana ranks second per capita in COVID-19 deaths
