BATON ROUGE - Louisiana Department of Health reports that as of Thursday morning, East Baton Rouge Parish has a total of three confirmed cases of novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

To treat those who become infected and curtail the further spread of the virus, the Mid City testing site will resume operations Thursday, but only for patients who had orders faxed prior to 6 p.m., on Wednesday, March 18. 

Please keep in mind that the orders must be faxed into the site by the patient’s physician. Anyone with written orders will not be admitted.

The center was briefly closed earlier this week, after healthcare workers at the center reported running out of testing kits. This situation has since been remedied and the aforementioned patients will be seen first to ensure that the most vulnerable members of the EBR community are tested immediately.

Patients appropriate for sending to the testing site must display symptoms associated with COVID-19 and fall within certain criteria, which is detailed below.

Symptoms include: Fever over 100.4, cough or shortness of breath, or headaches.

Patients who are seen should fall into the certain category: Symptomatic patients who are pregnant women, patients with weakened immune systems due to chronic illness or people who live in communal settings, infants less than ten weeks of adjusted gestational age, and healthcare workers with direct contact with a confirmed/presumed positive COVID-19 case.

Patients who should NOT have a referral to the testing site include: Those with symptoms consistent with alternate diagnoses such as seasonal allergies (these individuals should be monitored but not sent to the testing site.) And those who are low risk or otherwise healthy individuals.

Doctors who refer a patient to the testing site must fax orders along with a patient face sheet which includes insurance information to (225) 442-5200 and doctors should keep in mind that no handwritten orders will be accepted. Each order must include insurance information/facesheet, ICD-10 Diagnosis Code, NPI#, and the physician's name, phone number and fax number. 

The Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Community Testing Site at Baton Rouge General is the result of a collaborative initiative between EBR Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and a group of local physicians.

It is staffed by doctors from area hospitals and clinics. The test kits needed to operate the site are donated by those hospitals and clinics. The testing site has relieved pressure on hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms, which are also administering COVID-19 tests.

Nearly 500 tests have been administered since the community testing site became operational on Monday. 115 tests were administered Wednesday.

Click here for information on additional testing centers in Louisiana's capital area.