Sen. Bill Cassidy says Louisiana hospitals nearing capacity as coronavirus cases spike

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Sen. Bill Cassidy on concerns New Orleans will become next coronavirus epicenter

COVID-19 cases spike in New Orleans; reaction from Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee.

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Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy warned Saturday that his state was nearing capacity and would soon need additional help in treating COVID-19 patients.

Fox News host Neil Cavuto asked Cassidy how his state's local public health officials were handling the crisis. "I'm told that we're almost on the verge of being at capacity," Cassidy replied.

He added that the Army Corps of Engineers was building field hospitals, but his state was "about to overflow" with cases.

"And, so, if there's another mercy ship, we need it to come to the port of New Orleans, because we are at the point where we are going to need that for extra capacity. And I don't want our state to be lost with all the attention upon New York," he said.

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Cassidy's chamber overwhelmingly approved a massive bipartisan aid package designed to stimulate the economy as it endures the shocks of the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this week, Tulane Medical Center critical care physician Joshua Denson told Fox News that he thought Louisiana could become the next epicenter.

"A lot of the problem with this disease – as many have already heard about and know – is especially when [patients] end up in the ICU ...  they will end up being there for anywhere from one, two, or three weeks sometimes," he told "America's Newsroom" on Thursday.

To date, there are almost 70,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the United States with over 1,000 deaths. Louisiana lays claim to over 1,700 of those cases, with 65 deaths reported.

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Cassidy told Cavuto that he wants the country to start an immunity registry for people who survived the virus and are less likely to catch it again.

"First, we need a way to emerge out of the medical crisis ... If somebody has been exposed to coronavirus and recovered, the best thinking right now is that they're probably immune for at least another 12 or so months," he said.

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"So we need to start establishing an immune registry, if you will, so that those who are immune -- we know who they are, and they can be the nurse's aid or the bartender. They can be the person who goes out and greets those, not fearing that they will be infected, nor that they will infect other people.

"... With that exit plan, then we can begin to restore commerce. Then I would like to see a very large infrastructure package, getting working Americans back in construction, pulling through manufacturing, which stimulates the service industry. If we can do that, then I think we have a long-term exit to restore the economic prosperity we had before this hit."

Fox News' Julia Musto contributed to this report.