• The state health department reported 1,064 new COVID-19 cases over the past weekend.
• East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner William “Beau” Clark released a statement this morning, reporting that four people in the Baton Rouge area died from COVID-19 related complications in the past week.
• Louisiana shoppers will see state sales taxes suspended for two days in November, under a bill passed by lawmakers in their latest special session and signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards. The state sales tax holiday will be Nov. 20-21. Louisiana’s 4.45% state sales tax will not be charged on the first $2,500 of a purchase. The holiday doesn’t cover car, truck and other vehicle purchases. And it doesn’t apply to local sales taxes.
• Five of the six states with the nation’s lowest unemployment rates are in the Midwest, have Republican governors and have almost no restrictions intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus, The Associated Press reports. The governors say their decisions not to impose harsher restrictions are paying off with fewer business closures and more hiring reflected in the strong jobless numbers. But economists say it’s not so simple and other factors may play a role in producing such low unemployment rates. And those same rules that could initially help the states’ economies also are blamed for their leading the nation in coronavirus infection rates. Nebraska leads the nation with a 3.5% unemployment rate, followed by South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Iowa and Missouri.
Read more stories on how the coronavirus is impacting the Baton Rouge business community. See a roundup of resources available to those impacted by the pandemic. Click here to see a 225 magazine list of local restaurants offering patio seating or indoor dining during phase three of reopening.
