Louisiana’s Assistant State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter joined Newell for his recurring weekly segment Thursday morning to discuss the latest developments in the battle against COVID-19, preventative measures, and the search for effective treatments or even a vaccine. This week, as schools open doors and universities prepare to welcome tens of thousands of students, there is good news but reason to be cautious.“It looks like things are moving in a positive direction still, is that correct?” Newell asked.“Yeah, and I’m knocking on my wood table as I confirm that!” Kanter replied. “We feel reassured that we are doing the right things. At the end of last week was the first time in a while that the state had a positivity rate less than 10%. That’s down to 8.4% now. Region One (the New Orleans metro area) is leading the state at 4.9%, which is really encouraging. We take this as confirmation that the things the people in the community are doing is working. That's good news! The challenge in messaging this is that the trajectories are going in the right direction, but we’re still very high, with a lot of active COVID in the community. It wouldn’t take very much to fan those flames. We don’t want people to let up on their vigilance, but we are encouraged that the things we’re doing are working.”“I saw pictures earlier this week of fraternities and sororities in other states, mostly in the Southeast Conference having gatherings in the thousands,” Newell said. “I saw one picture in particular of a gathering of a few hundred kids, all over each other, and not a single one with a mask on. It was so bad at the University of Alabama that the Mayor of Tuscaloosa had to come out and say, ‘what are you doing?’”“We’re pretty worried about that too,” Kanter said. “Having the bars closed right now helps a little bit with this, but it doesn't help us with house parties and so forth. We had a very nice call with the Board of Regents yesterday, and as you would imagine, university presidents are equally concerned about this. They saw what happened at Chapel Hill and Notre Dame, and they want to set themselves up for success. The messaging that universities are sending to their campus families right now is good, aggressive messaging, letting them know that irresponsible behavior won't be tolerated, because it puts the entire thing at risk. I’ve been happy to see that, I think anyone on a college campus has a responsibility to protect the community, and it doesn't take very many people to ruin it for everyone else. I haven't heard of that behavior in our state, but I have to imagine reports of that would be handled very, very aggressively. Everyone wants our colleges to succeed and we’re all pulling for that.
“The State Fire Marshal has taken a more educational approach to this,” Newell continued. “Butch Browning and his folks have done a great job trying to get people to stay mindful. Most people have not been recalcitrant. Is that where you are on this as well?”
“More or less. The overwhelming majority of businesses are operating in a safe and responsible fashion,” Kanter said. “We talked to a lot of business owners who are concerned for their employees and want to create a safe space for their patrons because that’s good business. I hate when a couple of headlines come out that paint the whole industry in a light that’s not fair to them. We would expect the Fire Marshall to continue to get aggressive. He and his team are very understanding and lenient, they’ll talk to business and suggest improvements. If they feel the business is working in good faith, they’re supportive of that. The really small number of cases like the barbeque shop outside of Baton Rouge, where businesses just want to make a stand, those are the ones that will get enforced and go to the courts. Enforcement will continue for the small number of businesses that want to dig their heels in, but most people are doing the right thing.”
