Here’s Why Louisiana Says They Can’t Report COVID Recovery Numbers

The State of Louisiana has been reporting statistics on the COVID-19 outbreak every day since early March. The State's first positive COVID test was announced on March 9th, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now reports that the virus was in our state well before that date.

Inside the State of Louisiana's daily updates they include a total number of positive tests from across the state, total deaths that could be related to COVID-19, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the state, the number of residents on ventilators, and other rolling numbers related to COVID-19. But there is one major statistic that has been missing, and it's caught a lot of attention.

Missing from the daily updates are the number of residents who have recovered from the virus after testing positive.

Most people who are diagnosed will recover after a few days of illness, and many in our state found out their test was positive AFTER they had already recovered, due to delays in testing. However their numbers are still being counted in the total number of positive tests in the state, even though they've recovered.

The Governor's Office told WWL-TV why they say they can't track the recovery numbers:

“because most people who are sick recover at home. A person is considered recovered when it has been at least seven days after the onset of illness, AND at least three days after resolution of fever and resolution or improvement in respiratory symptoms.” 

The same story from WWL-TV included their own math equation, which showed more than 18,000 Louisiana residents have already recovered from the virus.

But even those recovery numbers don't include a major part of the virus response equation, the asymptomatic residents. Some experts project the number of symptomatic people (those who contract the virus without any major symptoms or illness) will be 25% to 75% of the population. The only way to track these numbers are through antibody testing, which would show who has already had the virus, and produced antibodies to fight it. Those who have already been exposed would not be able to catch the virus again.