Coroner: Parish COVID death toll is 28

Half of St. Mary’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents of the Legacy of Franklin nursing home, Coroner Eric Melancon told the Parish Council on Wednesday.
But other nursing homes in the parish have, so far, fought the disease successfully.
Melancon told the council that testing of the last 50 untested residents at Legacy turned up 18 positives. Legacy now has 49 COVID-19-positive residents at the facility, and another 10 residents are hospitalized.
Fourteen Legacy of Franklin residents have died.
At Patterson Healthcare, a positive test for a resident appears to have been a false positive based on subsequent testing. One employee there tested positive but had called in sick and stayed home in accordance with public health guidelines, Melancon said.
No cases have been reported at Maison Jardin or Legacy of Morgan City.
A total of 28 St. Mary people have died from COVID-19, Melancon said. The daily Louisiana Office of Public Health count still puts the number at 26, but the coroner said there is sometimes a delay in reporting by the OPH.
Melancon urged the council to encourage St. Mary people to wear masks to avoid spreading the disease.
Councilman Craig Mathews asked whether the parish is doing enough to guard against a new threat, pediatric multisymptom inflammatory syndrome. That condition, which causes fever and reduced heart and kidney function, has been linked in media accounts to a previous COVID-19 infection.
The syndrome has been reported in 17 states, including Louisiana.
Melancon said not enough is yet known about the disease and other COVID-related diseases are likely to appear.
The coroner also didn’t have an answer for Councilman J Ina, who asked whether St. Mary schools will be able to open on time in August. Melancon said he believes the School Board is following guidance from state officials.
Also Tuesday, Homeland Security Director David Naquin said he’s frustrated by his inability to get results from tests being conducted by mobile setups around the parish.
Naquin said he doesn’t want names or other confidential information, but he wants to know how many of the 180 tests administered so far have been positive for COVID-19. State officials aren’t offering that information.
“In this day and age we can put somebody on the moon but they cannot break out a spreadsheet and tell us how many were positive,” Naquin said.
Parish President David Hanagriff said the Parish Courthouse in Franklin will be open to the public again Monday, but Hanagriff said people who have business with the Sheriff’s Office, the assessor, parish government or the clerk of court should call ahead for an appointment.
Eighteen new COVID-19 cases were reported at noon Wednesday in St. Mary, St. Martin and Assumption, including 11 plus one death in St. Martin.
The numbers were recorded noon Tuesday to noon Wednesday by the Louisiana Office of Public Health.
—In St. Mary, six new cases raised the total to 257 after 1,900 tests. The number of deaths remained at 26.
—In St. Martin, the 11 new COVID-19 cases raised the total to 276 after 2,400 tests. The death reported Wednesday raised the parish’s total to 22.
—One new case raised Assumption’s total to 231 after 1,230 tests. The death toll remained at 11.
Statewide:
—612 new cases raised the total to 32,662 after about 238,000 tests.
—34 deaths raised the toll to 2,315.
—At his Wednesday press conference, Gov. John Bel Edwards said the number of people hospitalized had been over-reported because of a data entry error. The corrected number is 1,194.
—The number of people on ventilators rose by one to 147.