Crawfish season is beginning to gather steam and one state agency wants to remind you what to do after enjoying one of the state’s favorite pastimes. Brooke Thorington explains.

Cut 1 (30) “…Brooke Thorington.”

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An LSU study of traffic trends before and during the pandemic indicates as the pandemic continued how the is virus spread. Brooke Thorington speaks with one of the researchers.

Cut 2 (29) “…I’m Brooke Thorington.” 

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Governor Edwards will announce whether or not the state will reduce COVID public health restrictions today at 1 PM. Matt Doyle has the story.

Cut 3 (29)  “…I’m Matt Doyle.”  

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The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is reminding crawfish connoisseurs to be sure to clean up properly after your boil to preserve other sea life. DEQ spokesperson Jean Kelly says never place shells or boil water into a ditch or waterway because it can seriously harm or even kill fish.

Cut 4 (09)“…treated.”

When you dispose of boil water and/or seasoned shells into a storm drain or ditch it goes directly to a lake, river, or stream.

The best way to dispose of both shrimp and crawfish shells is by double-bagging them and placing them in the garbage, Kelly says never put shells down the sink or garbage disposal.

Cut 5 (07)“…critters.”

Kelly says disposing of crustacean shells and boil water properly is vital to enjoying one of the state’s favorite pastimes in the future.

Cut 6 (08) “…every year.”

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Coronavirus vaccines are proven to significantly reduce COVID severity, and while it hasn’t been proven many doctors believe vaccination reduces transmissibility as well. Ochsner System Medical Director of Hospital Quality Dr. Sandra Kemmerly says if you are vaccinated then your body will immediately start fighting any virus you come into contact with…

Cut 7 (11)  “…asymptomatically.”

Lead Johnson and Johnson researchers believe the vaccine limits asymptomatic disease by 74 percent. Ochsner Infection Control and Prevention Medical Director Katherine Baumgarten…

Cut 8 (09) “…confirm that.”

Kemmerly says the reason why they can’t confirm this fact is that transmissibility is a harder endpoint to measure in clinical trials, and thus wasn’t studied as closely as other focuses.

Cut 9 (11) “…vaccinated.”

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An LSU study comparing traffic in ten states before and various stages during the pandemic, found that overall traffic volume decreased by 48 percent.  LSU Civil Engineering Professor Brian Wolshon (Wool-shon) says at the beginning as the virus spread across the country, traffic trends mirrored each other based on closures in each of the states.

Cut 10 (09) “…like that.”

The 10 states in the study were Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Vermont.

Wolshon says as the virus spread, and each state experienced waves, and plateaus of the virus, traffic also changed.

Cut 11 (12) “…cases.”

While an increase or decrease in traffic then later did not follow respectively an increase or decrease in case numbers it did indicate to researchers how the virus was spread.

Cut 12 (09) “…contact. ”

Wolshon says when you compare heavily populated areas like New York to Montana the states experienced different outbreaks of the virus, which also backs up the theory that the virus is spread when individuals are in close contact with others.  Data from the study also indicated that traffic-volume recovery was slower than the original decline of traffic.

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Governor Edwards will announce whether the state will loosen COVID public health restrictions this afternoon, and the data appears to support potentially moving into Phase Three.

Public Affairs Research Council Policy Director Dr. Steven Procopio says not only are new positive cases down but so is the percent positivity of tests, and total COVID-related hospitalizations.

Cut 13 (08) “..improve”

COVID hospitalizations are down to 629 compared to the over 2,000 we saw in early January.

The Governor has never released his official benchmarks for moving the state through different phases but Procopio says our current numbers look like a period when we were in Phase Three restrictions.

Cut 14 (10) “…interact.” 

During that period total COVID hospitalizations sat between 800 and roughly 500.

Last week Edwards said our trajectory looked promising and Procopio says the data indicates a cautious loosening of restrictions is justified right now.

Cut 15 (09)“..transmutability.”

657,000 Louisianans have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

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The LSU baseball team will take on Nicholls tonight at 6:30 after beating the Colonels 14-0 on Saturday.  The Tigers have been great at the plate so far this year, batting .303 as a team.  Hitting Coach Eddy Smith says the team does a good job of feeding off each other.

Cut 16 (15) “…impose their will.”

The Tigers are a young team and already have a number of freshmen that are making an immediate impact.  Coach Smith says he’s not surprised because he knew this freshman class would be special.

Cut 17 (12) “….these freshmen”

While the freshmen continue to make headlines, junior Drew Bianco has been hitting the ball well, as he’s batting .250 with two home runs, both of which occurred against Nicholls.  Bianco almost left the program over the summer as he entered the transfer portal before deciding to remain in Baton Rouge.  Bianco says that experience motivated him to have a big year.

Cut  18 (14) “…in the long run.”

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The LSU men’s basketball team will take on the Vanderbilt Commodores at home tonight.  Vanderbilt is just 3-11 in SEC play this season but coach Will Wade says the Commodores are better than their record shows.

Cut 19 (16) “…how they’re playing.” 

LSU has lost its last two games due in large part to poor shooting.  Forward Darius Days has struggled in those losses, putting up a total of 4 points combined in those games.  Wade says he knows Days will get out of his shooting slump.

Cut 20  (13) “…at home.” 

Leaders in the state legislature are beginning to formulate their plans for tax reform legislation to be debated in the regular session that begins next month. Jeff Palermo has the story…

Cut 1 (32) “ …I’m Jeff Palermo.”  

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The state has hit another milestone in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Brook Thorington has the story…

Cut 2 (30) …I’m Brooke Thorington.”  

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Legislative leaders say they are putting together a tax reform plan that will be debated during the regular session that begins April 12th. Senate President Page Cortez says because of the complexity of the current tax structure, they want to bring stability, simplicity, and predictability to the state’s tax code

Cut 3 (10)  “…we will be successful”  

Cortez says the highest priority is to create a centralized state and local sales tax collection. He says Louisiana is one of three states not to have one, which makes it more difficult on businesses when it comes to paying taxes.

Cut 4 (12) “…right now” 

Cortez says phasing out the property tax businesses pay on inventory and reducing and simplifying the corporate franchise tax are other proposals that will be debated.

He says Senate and House leaders are also looking at eliminating the ability for taxpayers to deduct federal income taxes they pay on their state returns, which could lead to an overall lower income tax rate…

Cut 5  (11)  “…tax rate” 

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During an AARP Tele-Town Hall meeting, New Orleans physician Dr. Eric Griggs answered questions about COVID-19 and the vaccines. Griggs says the three vaccines available underwent thorough testing, Johnson and Johnson had 30-thousand clinical trial participants and 75-thousand people in the Pfizer and Moderna trials.

Cut 6 (12) “…the trial.”

Griggs says it’s important not to take anything like Tylenol before you are vaccinated to dull your immune response to the vaccine however you can take pain relief after your injection.

Cut 7 (11) “…after.”

When it comes to behavior after you have been vaccinated Griggs says because of variants of the virus you still need to continue to social distance and wear masks. As for travel and visiting with others outside your immediate household…

Cut 8 (10) “…a risk.”

To hear the complete town hall, visit AARP Louisiana’s Facebook page.

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New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said today that Tulane police officer Martinus Mitchum was fatally shot on Friday by a man who tried to force his way into a high school basketball playoff game. Ferguson says Mitchum was working as a security guard and tried to escort the gunman out of the building after he hit an employee working at the door

Cut 9 (10) “…the chest”

Officer Mithum was rushed to University Medical Center where he died and 35-year-old John Shallerhorn was quickly arrested and charged with one count of first-degree murder of a police officer. Ferguson calls Mitchum a hero for making sure Shallerhorn didn’t get inside the gym…

Cut 10 (11) “…negligence.” 

It’s been reported Shallerhorn became irate after being told he had to wear a mask at the Carver High School playoff game, but Ferguson can not confirm that

Cut 11 (11) “…wearing a mask.”

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The Louisiana Health Department says it expects to receive this week nearly 38-thousand doses of Johnson and Johnson’s newly approved COVID-19 vaccine. State Health Officer Doctor Joe Kanter says this is a single dose vaccine which could be especially beneficial for people who have difficulty taking time off of work

Cut 12 (10) “ …vaccines now.” 

Kanter says the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is also a more durable vaccine and it can last up to three months in a refrigerator, whereas the other vaccines must be stored at very cold temperatures

Cut 13 (08)“…strike teams.”

Kanter says clinical trials on the Johnson and Johnson vaccine show its 100-percent effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths

Cut 14 (12) “…zero deaths”