Laissez le bon temps rouler… at your own risk
1st November 2021 · 0 Comments
Everyone is tired of masks, social distancing, excessive handwashing, avoiding crowds, and limited mobility in New Orleans, party central of the world. So, the good news that Pfizer may give coronavirus vaccines this week to children ages five through 11 is cause for a celebration. Parents of the U.S.’s 28 million children have a chance to protect their children from this dread disease.
Early on, news media reported that children didn’t experience the deadly effects of the coronavirus as older adults. Health officials thought young adults and teens to be immune from the severe illness COVID brings to senior citizens and immunocompromised adults.
That proved false. 6.2 million children have had COVID-19, and 700 have died from the viral disease. In Louisiana, 18 children have died and two in New Orleans. Moreover, 7-9 percent of children who contracted COVID are long-haulers – people who experience the ill effects of COVID-19 months after being infected.
Still, the news is good. Since September 1, 2021, coronavirus cases have dropped by 57 percent nationally, and hospitalizations are down 54 percent.
The U.S. lost 774,000 U.S. citizens to coronavirus, 15,000 in Louisiana, and nearly 1,000 in Orleans Parish. The death spiral is slowing, thanks to vaccine mandates and CDC guidelines.
So far, 48 percent of people in Louisiana have received a least one dose of the vaccine, and 70 percent in Orleans Parish. New Orleans’ positivity rate has dropped to 1.3 percent, which means that Mayor Cantrell and Health Department Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno’s plan to contain the virus is working.
The question is, will it continue to work. Let’s cross our fingers and hope so. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Bayou Classic, Christmas, New Year’s Day, the Sugar Bowl, and Mardi Gras might spark another viral outbreak.
Last week, Dr. Mark Kline- Physician-in-Chief at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, spoke on MSNBC about the vaccine rollout for kids 5-11. His words may prove to be prescient. ‘We’re not out of the woods yet. We may feel like we’re done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us. It’s going to be with us for a while.’ Kline admitted.
Children’s Hospital had a rough summer. Children were on ventilators, and the ICU was full. Dr. Kline says the staff was exhausted. They are relieved that the number of cases is falling, but the doctor says there is still a significant transmission here and nationwide.
Which begs two questions: Why did Governor John Bel Edwards talk out of both sides of his neck when declaring an end to mask mandates? Does throwing caution to the wind and acting like everything is normal again a good thing?
According to a press release from his office, Gov. Edwards lifted Louisiana’s Mask Mandate Statewide, Except for K-12 Schools. Yet, Edwards allows school districts to “opt-out” of the mask mandate as long as they continue to follow existing quarantine guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Huh? Is that a capitulation or what? In other words, if you don’t want to mask, don’t, but if you get coronavirus, you have to go into quarantine. It feels like Edwards is backing the erroneous assumption that wearing a mask is a personal choice and part of a person’s First Amendment rights. No, it’s not.
Anti-vaxxers have no right to refuse to wear a mask or take the vaccine, get the coronavirus, then spread it to others. Even the Louisiana Department of Health blames community spread as the cause of coronavirus outbreaks.
While acknowledging that COVID cases are down because some Louisianans have followed public health guidance, Edwards believes schools deserve more “autonomy.” The fact that 18 children died of COVID, half of which occurred in the last three months because of the Delta variant, makes Edwards’s justification for allowing school districts to opt-out of mask mandates ludicrous. At the same time, Edwards says the CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
The feds still mandate masks on mass transit and in health facilities. To say we’re disappointed in Edwards’s position is putting it mildly. What can we expect, though? He signed a fetal heartbeat bill, and if the U.S. Supreme Court invalidates Roe v Wade, Louisiana will rush to enforce its abortion ban.
However, Mayor LaToya Cantrell is erring on the side of caution. Unlike Governor John Bel Edwards, an extremely conservative Democrat, Cantrell is not offering wishy-washy appeasement policies. No.
She and her Health Department Director, Dr. Jennifer Avegno, have weathered intense criticism, primarily from the business community, for insisting on maintaining strict CDC Coronavirus public health guidelines.
In Orleans Parish, masks are mandatory for unvaccinated individuals over 2 in indoor settings and early childhood and K-12 educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and public transportation.
In New Orleans, anyone 12 years and older must show proof of vaccines or a negative COVID-19 test (within 72 hours) to engage in indoor dining, fitness venues, indoor entertainment and performance spaces, and outdoor gatherings of 500 or more people. https://ready.nola.gov/incident/coronavirus/safe-reopening/#phase.
Mayor Cantrell jubilantly reported recently that the krewes will roll during Mardi Gras 2022. Street parades begin Thursday, February 17, 2022, and culminate on Fat Tuesday, March 1, 2022….’IF’ the coronavirus positivity rate and cases continue to fall and remain low.
This article originally published in the November 1, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
