Extended wait times for COVID-19 testing results become the latest hiccup in the state’s fight against the coronavirus. Jeff Palermo has the story.
Cut 1 (29) “…I’m Jeff Palermo”
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The American Federation of Teachers says “safety strikes” are on the table is more is not done to ensure teacher and student safety before schools reopen. Matt Doyle spoke with the Louisiana Branch…
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Calcasieu Parish Sheriff deputies have charged two teens with the murder of a 53-year-old Lake Charles man found lying in the road last week. Sheriff Tony Mancuso says they believe a 16-year-old used a stolen gun to shoot Anthony Bennett
A 16-year-old and a 13-year-old have been charged in Bennet’s murder which happened at around 11:00 last Thursday night. Mancuso says this is an example on why parents need to be involved in teenagers lives
Mancuso says the whole country is seeing these types of incidents, children committing violent crimes. The sheriff says there are parents who need to take back control of their kids
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In an effort to stop runaway youth COVID transmission, the governor’s office releases a PSA featuring half a dozen young people describing the serious symptoms they had as a result of COVID-19.
Eighteen to 29-year-olds have the highest number of infections of any age group recorded by the Louisiana Health at 24-thousand, six thousand higher than the next highest age group.
Those in the video discussed some of the misconceptions about how youth are allegedly “unaffected” by the virus.
The recent wave of cases has been driven by community spread amongst young adults, compared to the first wave which had a much higher percentage of cases coming from congregate settings of older people.
The PSA ends with the young folks imploring their friends to mask up.
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Louisiana’s COVID-19 testing has hit another hurdle with the turnaround time on getting results. Early in the pandemic, there was a lack of nasal swabs to conduct tests, but now Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Alex Billioux says some labs are struggling with the supply chain for the reagents needed to get results.
Cut 9 (10) “…shorter turnaround times.”
Billioux says the timeliness in getting a result makes the difference in being useful data in stopping the spread and just adding numbers to the stats.
Cut 10 (08) “…probably not useful.”
Billioux says the strain put onto the state’s testing capabilities could soon have an impact on who is eligible to be swabbed at community testing sites.
Cut 11 (11) “and drive-up sites.”
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The American Federation of Teachers threatens to back “safety strikes” in certain areas of the country if more is not done to assure the safety of teachers and students when fall classes resume.
Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Larry Carter says in hotspots across Louisiana union members are having active conversations about potentially staging safety strikes.
The AFT earlier this month adopted a resolution backing the reopening of schools only in areas where the positivity rate for tests was under five percent. Over the past few weeks, the rate has hovered around ten percent but has recently dropped under eight percent.
Two weeks ago when we spoke with Carter he said safety strikes were not being considered, but Carter says since then the situation has deteriorated.
Carter says any such strikes would be an option of last resort, but so far they’re not convinced many schools are safe to open next month, and not happy about the lack of progress being made to do so.
The demands are for more funding for PPE, guarantees that teaching spaces will allow for adequate social distancing, and for more strict protocols should an outbreak occur at a school.