Emergency Preparedness

The Louisiana Department of Health is confirming the storm-related death of a 50-year-old Lafayette Parish who died after slipping on ice and hitting his head on the ground. The coroner has confirmed this death as storm related. It is the first death related to the February 2021 Winter Storm. Louisiana is experiencing extreme winter weather that may cause widespread power outages. Because of these outages, many people will turn to individual, gas-powered generators to power their homes.

Should one or more of Louisiana's parishes/regions become overwhelmed with the number of human remains that require temporary refrigerated storage, Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and other state agencies may have to establish a temporary storage site(s). Contractor will be required to provide personnel and equipment to retrieve /return bodies from hospitals, coroners' offices or other sites that are designated by LDH.

Former State Health Officer Jimmy Guidry, M.D., retired from LDH on December 31, 2020. As newly-appointed State Health Officer, effective January 1, 2020, I hereby affirm that all COVID-related Emergency Orders issued by former State Health Officer Jimmy Guidry, M.D. that were still in effect on December 31, 2020 remain in effect, subject to any expiration dates or terms set forth therein.

Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a state of emergency in advance of Hurricane Zeta, which could impact Louisiana later in the week, though the final track is still uncertain. According to the National Weather Service, Zeta strengthened into a hurricane today and is expected to impact the northern Gulf Coast by Wednesday. Strong winds, coastal flooding, heavy rain and tornadoes are all possible.

To aid in Hurricane Delta recovery, the southwestern Louisiana Office of Public Health has added two more COVID-19 mobile test sites to its schedule for next week. Testing will be available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, October 19 through Friday, October 23.

Louisiana Department of Health on Sunday verifies two deaths tied to Hurricane Delta.

Using a generator safely is a matter of life and death following a storm that causes widespread power outages. In the first week after Hurricane Laura struck southwest Louisiana, almost half of the storm-related deaths (9 out of 20) were due to carbon monoxide poison produced by a gasoline-powered portable generator.

This blog post was originally published in July 2019 as Hurricane Barry approached Louisiana. With 2020's especially active hurricane season, we are sharing it again with updated resources and information on COVID-19 and flu season.

Hurricane season has put additional emotional stress upon us even as the COVID-19 response continues. These resources provide trained and compassionate individuals to support you during this time.

With Hurricane Delta projected to make landfall in Louisiana on Friday, the Region 5 Office of Public Health is suspending some services beginning Thursday, October 8 until further notice.