Empty shelves in local stores that sell respiratory face masks are one sign of coronavirus concerns among Louisiana residents.

But in a warehouse nearby, a stockpile of masks, gowns, gloves and emergency ventilators is ready for area hospitals in the event that the virus spreading around the globe makes its way to Louisiana.

“We have boxes and boxes of stuff,” said Dr. Nirav Patel, chief medical officer at University Medical Center. “Given this outbreak, we’ve been working with suppliers to ensure we don’t have any disruption in the supply chain to stockpile as much as we can."

No one in the state is believed to have contracted coronavirus, or COVID-19. But the Louisiana Department of Health is coordinating with hospitals and businesses to prepare. And according to officials, those preparations and plans will likely need to be launched at some point.

“We’re no longer talking about a situation 'if' there is the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. We’re talking about that we anticipate somewhere in the United States that spread will occur. It appears that it might have already started in California,” said Alex Billioux, an assistant health secretary at the Louisiana Department of Health.

+2 Tulane primate center will receive coronavirus samples for vaccine development Researchers from the Tulane National Primate Research Center are entering the race to develop a vaccine and treatment for coronavirus, the cen…

As of Friday evening, over 84,000 people have been infected with the virus and over 2,800 have died. Most of those cases are in mainland China, but Italy, Iran, Japan and South Korea also have seen widespread transmissions.

In the U.S., 62 people have been infected. Two of those cases, both in California, are thought to be transmissions from the community without ties to affected areas.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is convening officials Monday to discuss preparations for coronavirus in the first meeting about the virus by the Unified Command Group, an emergency response body led by the governor.

“We are getting together the Unified Command Group to discuss planning and to make sure everyone is communicating and coordinating appropriately,” said Edwards spokeswoman Christina Stephens.

Because of the lack of supply, hospitals around south Louisiana are conserving face masks. They're also taking other precautions even if they haven't yet had to roll out their emergency response plans.

New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System, which has 40 hospitals and 100 health and urgent care centers in Louisiana, has added questions about coronavirus symptoms into its "prompts" for electronic health records. Hospital executives have also been keeping an eye on the supply chain and access to necessary supplies but so far have not had any issues acquiring goods.

If a coronavirus case is suspected or identified, Ochsner expects to implement isolation efforts recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. That includes having health care workers wear protective suits and specialized masks.

+6 Inside the coronavirus quarantine: Loyola professor glad to be released from custody When Loyola University law professor Chunlin Leonhard first arrived at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, no one went without a mask.

Dr. Sandra Kemmerly, system medical director of hospital quality at Ochsner, said they've been preparing for the worst-case scenario. But for now it’s still business as usual.

“We’ve been planning for coronavirus since January,” Kemmerly said.

The Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System headquarters in Baton Rouge has also been preparing for the potential threat.

“We have been meeting with medical staff and team members to review our COVID-19 preparedness plans and ensuring all needed supplies are stocked,” said Dr. Catherine O’Neal, an infectious disease specialist with the Franciscan system, which operates Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge and Gonzales and Our Lady of the Lourdes in Lafayette, among other hospitals and clinics across the state..

Baton Rouge General Hospital is also part of the state and federal coordination effort and is screening patients who visit its emergency room and clinics.

Right now, there is no designated hospital with a special infectious disease unit where patients would be transferred if a test revealed a coronavirus infection, according to Joe Kanter, an assistant state health officer. Level 1 trauma hospitals, like UMC in New Orleans and Willis-Knighton in Shreveport, have negative pressure isolation rooms, which would keep the disease from spreading through the air.

At all hospitals, the patient would be assessed for risks of coronavirus and only tested if they meet certain criteria, according to guidelines set out by the CDC. Currently, the person must be exhibiting physical signs of the illness, like fever or cough; have been exposed to someone with coronavirus; or have traveled to China, Iran, Italy, Japan or South Korea in the past 14 days.

If a patient in Louisiana met those criteria and tested positive, the hospital would take its cues from the CDC on whether the patient should remain in the hospital’s care or be transferred to a special communicable disease unit, said officials at LCMC Health, which operates five large hospitals in New Orleans and three urgent care centers.

On the state level, Louisiana has been approved to shift some existing federal funding toward coronavirus prevention efforts but has not done so yet, according to Billioux.

The state is also hiring several new epidemiologists and has a 24-hour hotline for health care workers who have questions. The state expects to get a slice of several billion dollars in federal funding for virus prevention and treatment if those funds are approved by Congress.

There are no commercially available tests for the virus for health care providers or businesses. Starting Saturday, the state lab will be able to run tests for the virus locally, said Billioux. Previously, all specimens from suspected cases would have to be sent to the CDC for testing, a process which takes several days.

While health officials said the risk of the virus is still low in Lousiana, higher transmission levels in the U.S. are inevitable.

“I think it’s only a matter of time,” said Stephen Murphy, an expert in public health preparedness at Tulane University's School of Public Health who has planned for Ebola, pandemic influenza, hurricanes and mass gatherings like the Super Bowl. “We’re too global. The transmission is going to happen at some point.”

In the meantime, experts urge people to follow normal disease prevention measures. O'Neal said residents should be washing hands, covering coughs, staying home if they have flu-like symptoms and avoiding touching their eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

Officials are also urging people to resist stockpiling masks.

Face masks should be “the last layer of defense,” said Patel, the infectious disease expert at UMC in New Orleans who also oversaw patients during the H1N1 epidemic in California. “People stock up and it’s a feeling of safety, but it’s a theater rather than helpfulness.”