Marion County Judge Leward LaFleur was notified late Tuesday afternoon by Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) of the county’s 10th COVID-19 case. The county has 9 active cases and 1 which is considered recovered.
DSHS data shows Marion County received it’s first notification of COVID-19 case son April 16 due to being alerted to Precinct 2 Constable Tasha Wilson having recovered via a FaceBook post Wilson made. Further investigation found 3 cases, including Wilson, having been reported to Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) but not DSHS. DSHS updated case counts for counties along the Louisiana border based on the reporting errors. Wilson’s case is the “considered recovered” case.
Data from https://dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott announced on Monday his plan to reopen many businesses across the state citing a 17-day decline in the number of cases across the state. DSHS data supports a slight “flattening of the curve” based on the number of new cases from day to day, but the numbers are still increasing. DSHS also reports a steady increase in the number of tests being performed each day. Abbott cites the testing increase for the increase in the number of cases.
LaFleur’s “Shelter in Place” Executive Order is set to expire on April 30, and LaFleur said in his daily update on Tuesday he intends to let it expire naturally and not extend it. LaFleur provides an update on the COVID-19 cases in the County either via video live stream or FaceBook post on a daily basis. A playlist of LaFleur’s COVID-19 videos can be found here.
A Question and Answer live stream will be held Thursday afternoon at 3pm on the Herald‘s FaceBook and YouTube channels. It will also appear on LaFleur’s County Judge FaceBook page. LaFleur will review the guidelines for businesses reopening, as well as answer questions posed in advance or during the session. Questions can be emailed in advance to marioncoherald@gmail.com or leward.lafleur@co.marion.tx.us. They must be received by noon on Thursday.