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68 More People Reported Dead Of COVID-19, Case Growth Stays Under 2 Percent

Blue Dream is boarded up on Chartres St, Tuesday afternoon. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 14, 2020.
Ben Depp
/
For WWNO
Blue Dream is boarded up on Chartres St, Tuesday afternoon. New Orleans, Louisiana. April 14, 2020.

Growth in the number of known COVID-19 cases over 24 hours was under 2 percent for the third time this week, though people are still dying by the dozens across Louisiana.

Another 404 cases were reported Wednesday, according to the Louisiana Department of Health  (LDH)— an increase of 1.63 percent from Tuesday. Another 68 people were reported dead, bringing the death toll to 1,473 people.

The LDH has started keeping a count of probable COVID-19 deaths, too. They're defined as "deaths identified by coroners and/or physicians as COVID-19 deaths or as probable/suspected/possible COVID-19 deaths without a lab positive result."

Right now, the count is at 59. The LDH notes that the number could change if and when pending test results give definitive answers for any of those cases.

Hospitalizations are down by 51 people today, and ventilator use is down by 10 people. The latter number has been fairly steadily decreasing since April 5. The former has mostly been dropping since April 14, though it rose by 47 on Monday and four on Tuesday.

Credit Louisiana Department of Health
/
Louisiana Department of Health

The number of tests completed by commercial labs remains noted as under review. State labs have completed 6,593 tests.

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Ashley Dean is the digital news editor for New Orleans Public Radio. Before coming to New Orleans, she was the editor of Denverite, a digital news startup now under the Colorado Public Radio umbrella. Prior to that she was a copy editor and features writer at the Denver Post, and before that, a music reporter for the Colorado Daily. She graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in journalism and from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.