Caddo Parish nears 200 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases while area parish numbers rise

Caddo Parish saw its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rise to 189 on Saturday as the parish is nearing 200 positive cases.

On Friday, Caddo Parish had 140 positive cases, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. The increase is 35% over Friday's total.

Bossier Parish saw its confirmed positive cases rise from 32 on Friday to 45 on Saturday. Meanwhile, DeSoto Parish has jumped from 13 to 21 positive cases. Webster Parish has nine positive cases. Lincoln Parish has six cases, Claiborne Parish has four, Bienville Parish has three and Natchitoches Parish has two.

Health and local officials expected to see the number of confirmed cases rise as more testing is being done, but the rate has been alarming.

"These numbers are very concerning to me,'' Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins said at a news conference on Friday, "and they should be concerning to everybody. This is why I continue to stress staying home right now. If you must go out, make sure you're practicing social distancing and staying at least six feet away from anybody else you might come in contact with.''

The week has been a rough one in Caddo Parish. On Monday, there were 34 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in the parish. By Thursday, the number had climbed over 100 and now it is pushing toward 200. There have also been three deaths related to COVID-19 as confirmed by the Caddo Parish coroner.

"We've never quite seen what we're seeing now, so I want to emphasize to you how this is uncharted territory and how important we need to take this,'' Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator said Friday in a news conference.

The large number of cases in Caddo Parish and northwest Louisiana could stress the local hospital system.

"We have a lot of people hospitalized, about a quarter of the people who are ill are hospitalized and about a quarter of those people are on ventilators,'' said Dr. Martha Whyte, medical director of Louisiana Department of Public Health's northwest region, at the news conference. "So the people who are getting hospitalized are getting very sick.''