There's 'mounting evidence' Louisiana's coronavirus restrictions maybe weren't 'justified'

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On March 21, this newspaper published a story headlined, “Louisiana hospitals could be overwhelmed by surge of coronavirus patients: It’s frightening.”

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Harvard researchers also warned Louisiana would have to triple its hospital bed capacity to meet the needs of COVID-19 patients under a worst-case scenario.

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Also, in March, with fewer than 700 testing positive in the state at the time, Gov. John Bel Edwards offered dire predictions of the state’s ability to treat COVID-19 patients.

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As of Wednesday, there were 931 coronavirus patients in the hospital in Louisiana. Nationally, fewer than 20% of COVID-19 hospitalizations require ICU beds. Louisiana has 1,500 ICU beds.

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Most governors, including Edwards, shut down their state’s economy. It was all about flattening the curve, we were told, otherwise American hospitals would, like Italy, be overrun with patients. But there is mounting evidence the severe restrictions placed on our freedom and way of life that decimated our economy may not have been justified.

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A study conducted by the state of New York earlier this month found 66% of COVID-19 hospitalizations came from those sheltered at home. Another 18% of the hospitalized were previously nursing home patients.

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The state of New York also found fewer than 1% of hospitalizations came from prisoners, for whom social distancing is close to impossible.

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And then there’s South Dakota. Republican Gov. Kristi Noem refused to strip the liberties from her citizens, employing no restrictions. The COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 citizens in South Dakota is 5.

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And then there’s Georgia. Conservative Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, completely opened his state on April 24. And even before that, Kemp did not order the severe restrictions we saw imposed in Louisiana by Edwards. Since late April, Georgia has dramatically increased testing and yet COVID-19 cases are down 20%. Georgia’s death rate per 100,000 stands at 16, less than a third of Louisiana’s. Louisiana has done more testing than Georgia.

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Of the ten states with the highest COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 residents, 9 of 10 are run by Democrats and have employed the harshest stay at home restrictions.

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