Thanks everyone for joining in today. Earlier today, i participated in , telephone conference actually, a Video Conference with the White House Coronavirus task force, with the Vice President participating in that meeting, with also the president. We were able to visit with him. And also, earlier this morning, i had the opportunity to have a phone call with secretary of the veterans administration, robert wilke, and renewed our request that we forwarded through fema for supplemental assistance from the v. A. Potentially with respect to Surge Capacity of hospitals here in louisiana, looking primarily towards new orleans. And last night, i was able to have a conversation with fema administrator, pete gainer, on the most pressing needs we have in louisiana, all of which relate to our Surge Capacity. Principally, as i mentioned to you yesterday, those being ventilators. Also, p. P. E. And other requests. I am pleased to announce and in fact, the president announced this during the call with all 50 governors today and just as an aside, we have 55 governors because of territories. I think we had about 50 governors on the call today. But the president announced that he had granted our request related to two 250bed federal Field Hospitals. Now, these are basically beds and i. V. Poles. By beds, i am talking about primarily cots. They do not, themselves, come with the personnel to run those hospital beds. But in addition, theyll send one Public HealthService Strike team of 60 individuals. So these are doctors and nurses who will be able to help us to create Surge Capacity. And one c. D. C. Epidemiology team, we had previously, i think, told you all that team would be coming to louisiana. All of these assets and personnel should be in louisiana soon, and i want to thank the president and our federal partners for this very important assistance. We are certainly grateful for their support. So we are going to add these resources into our plans for medical surge. And i am going to speak more about medical surge in just a moment. We continue to review the relief bill. I think theyre calling it basically phase three of the Coronavirus Relief package that the president and congress has been working on for some time. That bill did pass the senate. It is our expectation that it will pass the house tomorrow and be signed into law tomorrow night. So we continue to look at all of those provisions to see what funding, assistance, flexibility that we can bring to bear in louisiana just as soon as possible. Just an update on the National Guard, we currently have 955 soldiers and airmen overall from the National Guard who are involved in our response to the covid19 Public Health emergency. Of that number, 667 are traditional National Guardsmen, soldiers, and airmen who have been mobilized specifically for this emergency. They are doing various things around the state of louisiana, including supporting testing sites in new orleans and in jefferson and in other areas in south louisiana. They are transporting critical needs. Theyre maintaining and operating the warehouse and doing various other things that are critically important in this Public Health emergency. As you can see from the screen my left, your right, the numbers we have today are once again very staggering. I hope the entire state of louisiana is looking at these numbers, and that they are as concerned about them as i am. Since yesterday, we have received 510 new confirmed cases of covid19 for a total of 2,305 cases statewide. That is a 28 increase from yesterday. There are, unfortunately, 18 new deaths since yesterday, which makes 83 deaths total. That is obviously very tragic. For those people who think that this is really just a problem for urban louisiana, new orleans, Jefferson Parish, for example, we now have positive cases in 53 of our 64 parishes. So nobody, nobody should look at this situation and think, oh, this doesnt involve me. This doesnt involve my town. This doesnt involve my parish. And i am encouraging everyone, no matter who you are or where you live, to understand that this coronavirus is in your neighborhood. It is spreading throughout the state of louisiana. There is no place where it isnt. There are some places where we havent detected it yet through a positive test result. It is all the way across our state. And so, when we have statewide mitigation measures in place, they apply to everyone, and i urge everyone to take them very, very seriously. And its quite frankly the case that the life you save could be your own, and all that you have to do to save lives is stay home, minimize your contact, follow social distancing, as weve been talking about. One very disturbing piece of information related to the fatalities that were reporting today is that we learned that one of those deaths is a 17yearold young person from new orleans. There is an investigation undergoing by the coroner now. I dont have any information as to whether this individual had underlying Chronic Health conditions or not. But it does illustrate the point that everyone is at risk. It might be the case that those most at risk are those 65 and older and those with Underlying Health conditions, but there is some percentage of the population, regardless of age and regardless of their health, who are at risk of having a very serious and severe complications related to this disease and that includes death. Related to this disease, and that includes death. Nobody should assume that this disease will not severely impact them or have the potential to kill them. This virus knows no limits when it comes to age, race, gender, background, your social status, your whatever. It really doesnt discriminate. So i am, again, urging everyone, regardless of who you are and where you live, to take this very, very seriously. With every passing day, doctors and scientists are learning more and more about this virus. Theyre learning more and more about this disease and how it impacts people. But we know enough already to know that people need to follow the stayathome order that weve given. We know that people need to practice social distancing. It is of the utmost importance. As of today, we are currently tied with new jersey for number two in cases per capita in the United States of america. We are tied for number two in the entire United States of america with new jersey when it comes to cases per capita. If we dont flatten the curve and do it soon, as i mentioned yesterday, we could be out of ventilators in region one, the new orleans area, by as early as april 2. And we would potentially be out of bed space for individuals by about april 7. Theres simply not enough health not enoughmply are Health Care Resources to care for all those who will need care if we continue to develop cases at our current pace. If we dont slow the spread of this virus, if we dont slow the spread of these cases, this is whats going to happen. Its not conjecture. This isnt some flimsy theory. This isnt a scare tactic. This is whats going to happen. Every Single Person has to take social distancing and my stayathome order seriously. Theres been a lot of discussion about medical surge, where they the stand up facility in the new orleans area, particularly around the earnest m. Moorehouse Convention Center in new orleans, and setting up a facility there. Yes, we are in the processing of signing the necessary contracts to stage 1,120 beds at the Convention Center initially. The first beds will be ready the first 120 beds will be ready this weekend with the rest coming along in the week. Were executing the contracts for the Wraparound Services to include staffing for that facility. We will have the ability to scale more beds over the next couple of weeks if we see that that is necessary. And obviously, we are watching that curve to know what we can expect in that area. Ive heard a lot of discussion about different options for where we would place these hospital beds. And trust me, weve done an exhaustive survey of all the different facilities and hotels and dorm rooms and where we think we can do this with the most efficiency and have the best possible impact on delivering health care to the individuals who are going to need it. There are obviously pros and cons to every option, but the most important thing, because one of the hardest things we are going to have to solve is the staffing, and quite simply, its easier to staff a single large facility than it is multiple smaller facilities. And the layout of the Convention Center is near ideal when it comes to staging the beds there in the wings of 120. These wings of 120. Obviously, its not an easy call to make, but the projections show were going to need potentially 1,000 or more hospital beds in the new orleans region by about the 8th, 9th, 10th of april. And that depends what the data points are over the next few days as they come in. Thats the trajectory were on. What concerns me, these are the same dates we have been talking about the last three, four days. And the simple reason for that, we have yet to start flattening the curve. I want everyone to know that in addition to this capacity, were surging capacity within our existing footprint of hospitals, not just in the new orleans region, but around the state. This is not complete, but i will tell you that oxnard l. S. U. Health is expanding by 96 i. C. U. Beds. Lcmc in by 97 beds. Baton rouge, by 75 beds. Baton rouge general is adding both regular, inpatient hospital beds by 34 i. C. U. Beds and 229 inpatient beds. These things are being done in phases. Some of those are coming online very quickly. Others within a couple of weeks. And others within about a month or so. But all of it is critically important, because those obviously who are most severely impacted by this disease will need and i. C. U. Bed. They are going to need a ventilator. So increasing our capacity here is incredibly important. In addition to this work, were identifying all of the capacity we have at tier two hospitals across the state of louisiana and just for illustrative purposes in the new orleans region, in region 1, there are approximately 172 of these beds. And then we are working, as i mentioned before, to try to get an arrangement with the v. A. Hospital, most especially in new orleans in the short term, to see what Surge Capacity they may have so they can take some of our patients, as well. I actually was very gratified today in the call that without my prompting, the president called on me to report about what our needs were, and before i could give an answer, he asked me about whether we thought we would need the v. A. Hospital in new orleans at Surge Capacity. I confirmed i thought we would. So i know this is receiving the required attention at the highest levels in our federal government. I really appreciate him for understanding what our situation is here in louisiana and doing what he can as our federal partner to assist with what were trying to stand up here in louisiana when it comes to our medical Surge Capacity. Now, i have spent a lot of time how were surging in louisiana with respect to our medical capacity. And we are working around the clock nonstop to do that. The average person in louisiana doesnt really have a role to play in how we surge. But you have a tremendous role to play in determining the degree to which we have to surge and the time within which we have to do it in order to meet the need, because if you will do what is within your power to slow the spread of this virus, to slow the spread of this disease, we wont need to surge as much or as fast. And you literally have it within the power of yourself to say it could be your own, it might be to save lives, it could be your own, it might be your spouses, it could be your parents, it could be your next door neighbor, but you have it within your power the opportunity to save lives if you will simply minimize the contact that you have with other people. And i know its hard. Its both simple on the one hand and its hard on the other. Its not how we arere how we are accustomed to living. But those are the facts. I also want to point out that we are seeing a troubling sign in northwest louisiana. We typically look at our state, and we look down in the new orleans and Jefferson Parish area. New orleans, i think, is almost at 1,000 cases. 997 cases. Right next door in Jefferson Parish, 458. We say, well, thats the hot spot. Just a few days ago, there were only a handful of cases in shreveport, cado parish, and bosier. You can look now, we have 115 cases and 32. Think back, it wasnt that long ago, those were the kind of numbers we were seeing out of new orleans and Jefferson Parish. So, again, this illustrates the point. This is a statewide problem. And nobody should be thinking that theyre not at risk. And that this doesnt involve them. So, to my fellow louisianans, if you find this briefing startling and unsettling, if you think it is a situation that im describing that you want to avoid, understand, we cant we can avoid it. It is entirely within our power to avoid it. But we got to have more compliance. And by the way, i want to thank all of the individuals,ing the all of the individuals, the leaders, the political leaders, the business leaders, the faith leaders who are doing so much to promote compliance. And those individuals out there who are complying. But were not doing as well as we should. Not when we know what is coming down the road in the nottoodistant future if we dont do better. So i am urging everyone to do what you can. And be selfless. Be a good neighbor. Think about that health care worker. Who is already performing heroically. But why would you want to increase their workload, increase the people with whom theyre going to have to be exposed . Why would you want to take the chance on bringing it home . So while we left essential businesses open so that people can go to the Grocery Store and to the pharmacy and to the bank and to the gas station, you dont have to go every day. You dont have to do those things every day. Because of the critical need for Health Care Workers, weve created a medical volunteer website in order to mobilize Health Care Students and graduates from louisiana universities and colleges to support the existing Health Care Workforce that is quickly getting stretched thin. This website is also available to active members or retirees of louisianas Health Care Workforce who are willing and able to assist, and were asking volunteers of all medical backgrounds to sign up. This is really important, because in addition to ventilators and p. P. E. , really, the most critical thing we need in order to increase our Surge Capacity are the medical professionals, the doctors and the nurses, the respiratory therapists and all of the other allied health care professionals. We need volunteers. So if you are qualified and able and willing, first of all, im imploring you to volunteer. Secondly, you can do so by visiting covid19lavolunteers. Org. Covid19lavolunteers. Org. And i want to thank everyone involved with making this possible. I want to thank those who have already volunteered. We will have all of these links and phone numbers on our website, by the way, which is gov. La. Gov coronavirus. Gov. La. Gov coronavirus. Just a reminder, for those of you who are filing for unemployment benefits, in order to receive weekly unemployment benefits, you are going to have to satisfy. It is a legal requirement that you satisfy that you are still unemployed. You have to do it once a week. And you have to be unemployed due to covid19 in order to get unemployment benefits. Those weekly certifications must be filed by sunday of each week you are unemployed. Think of the weekly certification as filling out a weekly time sheet. You just have to do it every week. It allows the Workforce Commission to know on a weektoweek basis that your Employment Situation has not changed. Despite the dire circumstances we face, i do remain hopeful, and in fact, optimistic, that with greater compliance to the stayathome order, to the social distancing measures we have put in place, and to people just exercising good common sense, and that people are going to be motivated by just the desire to be Good Neighbors to one another, that we are going to start to flatten the curve and that we are going to start seeing that in the very near future. Because our future, from where we are today, with the curve that we are on, is not promising. We will gladly accept help, both human and divine, so im asking people to continue, in addition to working, to make sure that we do better, that they pray that we will do better, as well. Theres no doubt theres daylight at the end of the tunnel, but were not close enough, yet, to see it. Now more than ever, we need people to stay home, slow the spread, and save lives. I am going to take questions. I will remind you that as we have every single day, i want to thanked him and want to thank him and all of the people at the office of Public Health, really, all the people statewide who are working so hard on this, both at the state level and at the local level, but we have the doctor here to answer questions as they may relate specifically to testing. I want to thank him personally. And i want to thank those Health Care Workers who continue to perform heroically across the state of louisiana. And i know that they are getting tired. But t