Louisiana’s reprieve from the coronavirus has come to an end, but there is no need in panic. In fact, we should do the opposite, and pay close attention to what local health officials are saying. Newell invited Dr. Joe Kanter, our state’s Assistant Health Officer, onto the program Tuesday morning to deliver remarks about how well we are prepared, and clear up some common misconceptions about where we may be headed next.“Everybody’s looking for guidance here,” Newell began. “Some will choose to panic - I choose to listen to what people like you have to say. So where are we on all this?”“We have joined the ranks of a number of other states with cases of coronavirus, but this did not catch anyone by surprise in this administration,” Kanter said. “As the Governor himself has said, we have always been proceeding as though this were a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if.’ We’ve been preparing accordingly. It’s reasonable to expect that we will see more cases over the coming weeks. You’re right that it is not time to panic, but it is time for folks to double down on personal protection. The biggest thing folks can do to help stop this spread is just staying home when ill. This is tough, I know, because we don’t have great sick leave laws around the country - that’s something we’d like to see change but that’s not going to help us immediately - it’s financially difficult, but it’s so important to stay home and not go to work, not visit family and friends. That’s the single biggest that will mitigate the spread of this and make it less of an emergency.”“There are a lot of folks that are heeding the advice, some are not,” Newell continued. “There are laws on the books that give you and your peers a lot of authority when it comes to the question of quarantines. Have you worked through that process, and what are you thinking about that?”“There’s been a lot of discussion about that,” Kanter answered. “We had an exercise with those types of laws a few years ago with Ebola. This is not Ebola, which had a fatality rate somewhere between 60-75%. This is nowhere close to that and it might not be appropriate to enforce those orders with force. It might not even be practical when you think about how many law enforcement officers are out there, and how many cases some communities will see. But those issues are being looked at. Of the people our epidemiologists have reached out to, either suspected cases or contacts thereof, we have received immense cooperation. I think people recognize the severity of this.”
Newell: We all need to act like adults among growing virus fears
By Newell NormandMar 10, 2020
Newell Normand
Newell Normand - Wake up people! That’s Newell Normand’s mantra…and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff turned talk host has lots of “empirical data” to…
