A new Google report shows that people in St. John and St. James Parishes did not initially obey the stay-at-home/social distancing orders issued by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. .
Google’s Community Mobility Report - which tracked cell phones through the GPS function - showed that a significant increase in the number of people staying home did not begin immediately after the orders were issued. That is supported by comments on my radio talk show that people in St. John Parish were socializing as if everything was normal.
The growing concern that rural America did not take the threat of coronavirus seriously at first its supported by the jump in cases in rural America. Part of the increase in the number of cases comes from more testing in those areas - but there is enough real-life evidence to support the idea that many throughout rural America believed coronavirus was a deadly virus that was spreading in crowded, big cities and not the outlying rural communities.
When there were no reports of coronavirus cases or deaths in all of Louisiana’s 64 parishes - every day Governor John Bel Edwards warned that the coronavirus crisis covered that state and that every parish would have cases. It is now reported that there are coronavirus cases in all of the state’s 64 parishes.
During his day press conference yesterday, the governor said that over the Easter weekend - too many people did not practice social distancing. The rebel pastor of the Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge again defied the stay-at-home/social distancing orders and attracted an estimated 1,300 followers to his Easter service with no regard for social distancing.
Social media was ablaze with video of a large Easter cookout gathering in Pensacola, FL. It is estimated that about 100 people gathered at a housing complex for the cookout. It took police about 2 hours to break up the gathering. No arrests were made, and no citations were issued.
One resident in the area drove through the neighborhood with a megaphone asking the residents to obey the governor’s social distancing orders.
It is obvious that many people still do not understand the seriousness of the coronavirus crisis and those are the individuals that will continue to spread the disease - even unknowingly - to some who will die.
Even though the news on the number of cases and deaths continues to offer hope that the worst is over in New Orleans and across Louisiana - it will be interesting to see of there is any spike in the numbers in 10-14 days because of the Easter gatherings.
As our governor and as other leaders have continued to emphasize - the ONLY way the numbers will go down and the ONLY way we can open the economy sooner rather than later is if we ALL respect the orders for social distancing.
My social media is overflowing with positive comments from many who say they are in this to win and are not being tempted to break orders until the experts give the go-ahead.
Use your head - stop the spread!