New Orleans bounce legend DJ Black N Mild has died from coronavirus.
The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office announced his death on Friday, according to NOLA.com. He was 44 years old.
The DJ, born Oliver Stokes Jr., helped bring New Orleans bounce music to the radio in the early aughts, according to Billboard. After Hurricane Katrina, he relocated to Houston and hosted a mix show for KHOU. Black N Mild also hosted the Rhythm and Bounce show for WBOK from 2013 to 2017.
Stokes worked at Arthur Ashe Charter School as an in-school suspension coordinator. He had been sick since March 9 when he left work with a fever. He was admitted to a local hospital two days later.
“Our school community is devastated,” said Sabrina Pence, CEO of FirstLine Schools. Pence added employees were discouraged from coming into work if they weren’t feeling well.
"We strongly encouraged anyone that had any type of symptoms — fever, cough, not feeling well in any capacity — to stay home,” Pence said.
Stokes was tested for coronavirus, and his results came back positive the day after he died.
As of publishing, there are 585 confirmed coronavirus diagnoses in Louisiana, according to 4WWL.
The first case was confirmed on March 9, and since then, 16 have died from the virus. Twenty-nine out of 64 parishes have been affected by the pandemic. More than half of the diagnoses, 60.7%, occurred in the Orleans Parish, per Livingston Parish News. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell reiterated her “stay at home mandate” on Friday.
"It is what it is, stay at home, work from home when you can. Only go out for essential services," Cantrell said.
State officials are working on expanding testing efforts. There are currently two drive-in testing centers in New Orleans with 100 tests being administered per day, according to 4WWL. As of Sunday, anyone who is experiencing symptoms can be tested for COVID-19. Previously, testing was restricted to people who were symptomatic but tested negative for the flu. Louisiana’s healthcare professionals and first responders have all been tested.
Lousiana is also purging its jails to combat the virus. According to a tweet from Jeff Asher of Crimealytics, the jail population was 1,045 on March 11. Ten days later, the number had dropped to 930 inmates.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards banned gatherings of more than 50 people, closed schools and limited restaurants to takeout and delivery services, per the Gonzales Weekly Citizen. During a Thursday conference call with President Donald Trump and other governors, Edwards warned Louisiana’s healthcare system could be overwhelmed within a week.
“My fear, based on modeling that I’ve received today, is that in as little as seven days we could start to exceed our capacity to deliver health care,” Edwards said, reports The Associated Press.
He later asked his constituents to honor all COVID-19-related guidelines.
“I am imploring every resident of the state of Louisiana, ‘You have a role to play,’” Edwards said. “If we are not going to look like Italy in 10 days or two weeks, it will only be because of these mitigation measures.”
