St. John the Baptist Parish now has the highest per-capita death rate of any county in the U.S. from the coronavirus, a grim statistic that partly owes to a significant and growing cluster of the virus in a Reserve nursing home for veterans.

Officials confirmed Wednesday that at least 14 residents of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home have tested positive for the coronavirus, and at least four of them have died.

Overall, at least 13 people in the parish had died from the coronavirus as of noon Wednesday, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. But by Wednesday evening, that number was 21, Coroner Christy Montegut said, adding that the state data lags reality by a couple of days.

Montegut said seven of the parish’s coronavirus deaths have involved residents of the veterans home in Reserve, and that the virus is strongly suspected but not confirmed in three more deaths at the home. Brandee Patrick, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Veterans Affairs, said she could not immediately address Montegut’s claim.

+3 Four deaths, 14 coronavirus cases now at Louisiana veterans nursing home in Reserve At least 14 residents of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home have tested positive for the coronavirus and at least four of them have died in…

Before Wednesday, the department had refused to provide any details on how many cases or deaths had occurred at the 156-bed Reserve facility, though the state Department of Health had identified it as a cluster. The Department of Veterans Affairs runs four other similar regional homes around the state.

Concerns about the coronavirus spreading through senior complexes and nursing homes has been mounting for weeks, since such facilities are conducive to spread and residents are especially vulnerable.

As of Wednesday, 47 of the 436 such facilities around the state had been designated as "clusters" by the Department of Health. The worst outbreak thus far has been at Lambeth House, in Uptown New Orleans, where at least 13 people had died and 53 had been infected as of Sunday.

The heavy toll means that in St. John Parish, the coronavirus has caused more than 30 deaths per 100,000 residents. It’s the highest rate among American counties, a fact flagged by Gov. John Bel Edwards in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

The rate narrowly exceeds that of much larger Orleans Parish, which had recorded at least 115 deaths as of Wednesday and had a rate of 29 deaths per 100,000 people.

Those unhappy statistics are among the reasons that Sheriff Mike Tregre on Wednesday announced a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily curfew, one that was matched by neighboring St. James Parish later in the day. The curfews are the first of their kind in the region, which is under a general stay-at-home order that allows for necessary errands.

The parish also planned a “coronavirus tele-town hall” to begin at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, co-hosted by Parish President Jaclyn Hotard and U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond.

Tregre said he took a call from a friend Wednesday morning that was eerily similar to several others he’s received over the last two weeks.

The friend sounded helpless. He had a relative in the hospital who was near death from the coronavirus.

“The hospital said his vitals were all shutting down,” Tregre said of the heartbreaking conversation. “I’ve had too many calls like that.”

“St. John,” he added, “is too small to have these numbers.”

It’s unclear why St. John Parish has been hit so hard by the coronavirus. But its small population — just over 43,000 residents — means metrics like a per-capita rate can fluctuate wildly, especially with a cluster of deaths at a nursing home.

Montegut said it was difficult to say why the parish had been so heavily impacted, but he said that the virus was spreading widely and he predicted a difficult couple of weeks ahead.

“It’s real serious, and it looks like for the next week or two, it could continue to surge,” he said.

Montegut said the deaths in St. John — as in the rest of the state — have largely involved people with underlying health problems.

“In just about all the fatalities, they have been people who have multiple medical problems -- diabetes, lung disease, heart disease,” he said. “They’re susceptible to serious problems if they get infected.”

Indeed, St. John's mortality rate so far is incredibly high: Of 118 known cases in the parish, 13 people have died, a rate of 11% — nearly twice the rate of New Orleans.

Apart from the problems at the Reserve veterans home, Montegut said there was a coronavirus death over the weekend at Twin Oaks, a LaPlace nursing home.

That facility was not among the 47 listed as clusters by the state as of Wednesday. A message seeking comment from a manager at Twin Oaks was not returned.

“It’s hard to contain a spread within a nursing home,” Montegut said. “They’re trying everything they can do, but it’s a helpless feeling.”

Tregre said the curfew will help his deputies better enforce the state-mandated “stay-home” order. People will still be able to take care of essential business, he said, they’ll just have to do it earlier in the day or evening.

“But my deputies have been seeing things like cookouts and barbecues,” he said.

Tregre’s comments Wednesday indicated he has already taken some heat for the curfew.

“The heat I’m taking is about daiquiri shops and snowball stands,” he said. “Snowball stands. Get your snowball in the afternoon. I’m doing what I have to do to save lives.”

Editor's note: This story was changed April 1 to include updated remarks from Coroner Christy Monegut, and on April 2 to clarify which agency manages the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home.