Nearly 300 workers at Ochsner Health in Louisiana and Mississippi have been fired for not coming into compliance with the firm’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, though 99 percent of additional staff members have. Tulane Health Care Economist, Charles Stoecker, says the Ochsner Health vaccination policy isn’t really all that strict given the alternative provisions for those who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Cut 13 (11) “…be tested weekly.”
The Omicron Covid-19 variant is now in Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Health late Friday reported the state’s first probable case of the variant that has now spread to at least nine states and nearly three dozen countries. The Louisiana person infected with the variant is said to be in the Greater New Orleans Area and had traveled within the U.S. recently. The LDH says Omicron may be more transmissible than previous strains of the virus and may carry an increased risk of reinfection compared to other variants.
Today is your last chance to vote early in the December 11th election. While quite a few parishes don’t have anything to vote on, there are more than 30 others that do, ranging from candidate runoffs to various propositions. Long-time Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman is seeking to hold onto his seat against a progressive Democrat. St. Tammany Parish voters are casting ballots to decide the fate of parish’s first-ever casino in what has become a battle royale between supporters and opponents.
Over the past 30 days, Louisiana State troopers say they’ve seized more than six million dollars in illegal narcotics during numerous traffic stops across the state. Trooper William Huggins says the makeup of the drug seizures during the traffic stops was large quantities of meth.
Huggins says it’s hard to tell if more drugs are crossing the state’s highways.
Cut 11 (08) “..focused on it.”
During the traffic stops over the past month, troopers seized 577 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated one-point-six-million dollars.