LDH retracts Acadia coronoavirus finding

UPDATE: Earlier reports that a patient in Acadia Parish had tested positive for the coronavirus were wrong.

According to Chance Henry, president of the Acadia Parish Police Jury, the Louisiana Department of Health contacted parish officials and retracted the information. “The patient appears to have been from a parish other than Acadia,” according to a statement from LDH.

More details will be released as they become available.

Thursday, March 19, 2020
Acadia Parish officials have reported the first case of COVID-19 in the parish.

At 5:15 p.m. Thursday, the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness was notified that a patient in Acadia Parish had tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Ashley LeBlanc, director.

“We are working closely with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Louisiana Department of Hospitals,” LeBlanc said. “More details will be released as they become available.”

This is the fourth coronavirus case reported in the Acadiana in the last 24 hours. Two were reported in Lafayette late Wednesday night and another in St. Landry Parish just before noon on Thursday. More positive cases are expected as test results are returned from private labs, according to state officials.