Mayor issues statement after EBR sees spike in COVID-19 cases BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - East Baton Rouge Parish saw a nearly 60% increase in COVID-19 from Friday, April 3 to Saturday, April 4. The cases jumped from 389 to 621 in that 24-hour period. Mayor-president Sharon Weston Broome released a statement Saturday afternoon about the cause of the spike in numbers and about hospital bed availability. As I have been reporting, we expect to see an increase of COVID-19 cases in East Baton Rouge Parish. Please keep in mind, a large increase of confirmed cases can be attributed to a logjam of lab results being reported to the Louisiana Department of Health. The more important indicator is hospital capacity, which we currently have 37% of beds available and 23% of ICU beds available in Louisiana Health District 2. The Louisiana Department of Health and our area hospitals are constantly expanding capacity to prepare for the coming days. With that said, remember up to 80% of people with COVID-19 can be asymptomatic or have only minor symptoms. At this point, we should all act as if we have COVID-19. Our hospital capacity is the most critical factor in protecting the 20% of COVID-19 patients who will need hospitalization. We need to protect our vulnerable population by rigorously practicing social distancing in the coming weeks. Everyone plays a vital role in protecting our community and helping to flatten the curve.