Tuesday's coronavirus statistics from the Louisiana Department of Health included the sobering news of over 2,000 virus-related deaths in the state. 

But there was also some positive news. For the first time since March, less than 200 COVID-19 patients are on ventilators.

According to WWL-TV , as of May 5, 194 coronavirus patients in Louisiana require a ventilator. Recent statistics show that number is now down from the peak of 571 patients on April 4.

The number of ventilators available in the state was a vital issue in March, when Gov. John Bel Edwards warned that the state was on track to run out of the life-saving respiratory machine by early April.

But with the assistance of local and federal aid, the state did not run out of equipment and by mid-April the number of ventilators was the first metric to start consistently improving across the state.

Louisiana was able to increase their ventilator supply by thousands in the span of a few weeks, purchasing them from private vendors and receiving them from the national stockpile.