Cases of Alpha-gal syndrome are on the uptick, and persons infected are allergic to red meat. Brooke Thorington has more
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Slidell Senator Sharon Hewitt officially joined the governor’s race today. Jeff Palermo reports she’s an underdog to make the runoff..
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Louisiana Department of Health has released the first round of bonus payments to over 15 thousand direct support workers statewide who served waiver participants during the pandemic. LDH Assistant Secretary Julie Foster Hagen points out workers must be currently employed and meet certain guidelines….
The payments are funded through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which included one trillion dollars in federal funding to support working families during the pandemic. Qualified workers must have worked between April 2021 through October 2022. Hagen points out that the payments will be disbursed directly from the provider agency…
Self-direction workers will get paid through a fiscal agent. Hagen says they will check for additional eligible workers after running reports for June and July. She says these bonuses are to retain workers for their dedication and services to vulnerable residents in the state during the pandemic
Workers will receive payments within two to four weeks. A second round of payments will go out in August and September.
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Did you know that a tick bite could cause you to be allergic to red meat? Dr. James Diaz with LSU Health New Orleans says when a Lone Star tick bites a human it can transmit chemicals from animals they feed on and one of those chemicals is Alpha-gal.
He says in the US it’s spread by a Lone Star tick, which has a white spot on its back, that feeds predominately on White Tail Deer.
Diaz says if you’re infected you could have a severe allergic reaction after eating red meat and there have even been cases of anaphylactic shock.
Fortunately, it’s very rare that humans are infected, and the majority of cases spread by the Lone Star Tick are in Virginia and surrounding states but there have been a few cases in Louisiana. Diaz said it can also be contracted from gelatin, which is made from animal byproducts.
Diaz says they began recognizing cases of alpha-gal in the US back in 2015 and that cases were first reported in Australia.
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State Senator Sharon Hewitt, a Republican from Slidell, qualified for governor today. Like previous candidates for the job, she wants to reverse outmigration. Hewitt blames part of the outmigration problem on the front runner in the race, Attorney General Jeff Landry…
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Several coastal parishes have filed lawsuits against oil companies, claiming they’ve contributed to coastal land loss.
Hewitt is one of seven major candidates in the race. She’s not getting much support in the polls, but Hewitt says the election starts this week and criticizes the state Republican Party for endorsing Landry well before qualifying.
After qualifying, Hewitt was asked by reporters about her stance on abortion. The state lawmaker says she’s pro life, but seemed opened to allowing for more exceptions in the state’s near total abortion ban….
Hewitt is the fourth main candidate to qualify for governor. Landry qualifies this afternoon and tomorrow Republicans Stephen Waguespack and Richard Nelson will qualify.