Coronavirus

LSU Health Researchers Conduct Study on COVID and Neighborhood Deprivation

LSU Health researchers used ADI (Area Deprivation Index) to study the relationship between poverty and COVID in Louisiana, finding that people in deprived neighborhoods had as much as a 40% increased risk of COVID-19 compared to people in less deprived neighborhoods, in an article published last week.

The research was taken on to find answers about Louisiana’s high per capita rate of COVID this past summer, with highest COVID rates among African Americans.

The authors explain that risk factors “exist not only at the individual or biological level; neighborhood-level factors and their interactions with individual-level factors are also responsible for the observed disparities. Lack of access to health care, unemployment, less education, and poor housing conditions significantly increase the risk of COVID-19 infection.”

The authors hope the study can be “utilized to promote public health preventions measures besides social distancing, wearing a mask while in public and frequent handwashing in vulnerable neighborhoods with greater deprivation.”

You can read the article and see the findings at PLOS ONE. The LSUHSC Newsroom has also published a piece on the article.

COVID-19: Acetaminophen not Ibuprofen

The British Medical Journal released a news item today, confirming the French Government’s assertion that ibuprofen seems to exacerbate the symptoms of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Website from LDH – Office of Public Health

For the latest accurate information, the Louisiana Department of Health – Office of Public Health is maintaining a COVID-19 website.

It is updated 2x per day at 9:30am and 5:30pm.

Questions about COVID-19 now being answered by Louisiana 211 statewide network

Louisiana’s statewide 211 network is now answering calls about COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. This network is best designed and staffed to handle the large volume of calls from Louisiana residents who are concerned and who have questions about the rapidly-spreading virus.

Anyone looking for information about the COVID-19 outbreak can simply dial 211 or text the keyword LACOVID to 898-211 for the most current information about the outbreak as it becomes available.

More information is available on the Louisiana Department of Health website.