With students and teachers set to return to the classroom, there’s a heightened sense of concern this year as the delta variant is impacting more children. Brooke Thorington has more.
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The FDA is expected to give full authorization for the Pfizer COVID vaccine next month, approximately nine months after it received Emergency Use Authorization. Brooke Thorington has more.
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Louisiana Lottery sales shattered records in the last fiscal year. Matt Doyle has the story.
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With students set to return to school, along with facility and staff, they will face their third pandemic impacted school year. President of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers Larry Carter says members have mixed emotions about returning, excitement…
Cut 4 (08) “…the game.”
Carter says because a majority of school systems handled COVID mitigation well last year he’s confident they will continue to do so, however with an increase in cases among children due to the Delta variant there’s a heightened level of concern among parents.
Cut 5 (11) “…those parents.”
LEAP Test schools released this week show students perform better when they are in a physical classroom versus virtual learning. Carter says it’s imperative that more people be vaccinated in order to keep each other safe and students in the classroom.
Cut 6 (09) “…vaccine is.”
Carter says a poll among national members indicates more than 90-percent are vaccinated for COVID and an estimated 80-percent of facility and staff are vaccinated in Louisiana.
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The FDA is expected to give full approval next month to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for adults, upgrading it from its current Emergency Use Authorization. Tulane School of Medicine Epidemiologist Dr. Susan Hassig says they are reviewing things like storage, dosing, and distribution data.
Cut 7 (09) “…full authorization.”
Hassig says the FDA is also reviewing the lengthy package insert that will accompany the vaccine, which she says is very important for how companies could dictate their vaccine policies.
Cut 8 (11) “…to happen.”
What makes this authorization process different from other FDA approvals Hassig says is because we are in a pandemic and most medications, etc. would only receive full approval after a lengthy process and not a EUA. So, the FDA reviewed preliminary data from the vaccine clinical trials and issued EUA.
Cut 9 (09) “…this vaccine.”
The FDA is reportedly aiming to grant full approval by Labor Day or sooner.
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The Louisiana Lottery brought in a record-breaking 625 million dollars in revenue for the fiscal year that ended in July.
Lotto spokesperson Kim Chopin says scratch-offs, in particular, saw a massive surge in interest, up nearly 70 million dollars in sales from last year.
Cut 10 (09) “…history.”
35 cents of every dollar spent on Lotto games go towards funding K-12 education. Chopin says over 207 million dollars was raised for public education in the last fiscal year, up 28 million from last year.
Cut 11 (11) “…education.”
Chopin says the pandemic clearly had a big impact on sales. She says they certainly picked up a few players who were unable to gamble at casinos.
Cut 12 (10) “…buisinesses.”
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The Ochsner Health System confirmed reports that more children are being hospitalized with COVID-19, even if the overall number is still relatively low.
System Chair of Pediatrics Dr. William Lennarz says there has been a clear rise in COVID cases among children due to the Delta variant. He cited percent positivity among those 18 and younger…
Cut 13 (09) “…24 percent.”
Lennarz says it is important to note that while there has been an uptick in child hospitalizations, they aren’t seeing a “tremendous” number of critically ill children right now…
Cut 14 (11) “…week or so.”
Lennarz says the average age of pediatric patients that they are seeing with COVID dropped from 16 in June to 12 in July. That’s because now children under 12 are most “at-risk”.
Cut 15 (08)“…not vaccinated.”
But Lennarz cautioned that so far the data indicates that children do not appear to be proportionately more severely affected by the Delta variant.
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With the injury to Myles Brennan, LSU’s quarterback battle is decided as Max Johnson has been named the starter. But there are other key position battles as the Tigers report for preseason camp today. Tiger Rag Assistant Editor William Weathers says one of the more competitive battles will be at linebacker.
Cut 16 (19) “…cohesion and how to work together.”
The safety spot is a position with plenty of talent but not much experience. Weathers says you could see some young guys step up in the secondary.
Cut 17 (18) “…Langlois.”
Defensive line should be one of the deepest positions for the Tigers in 2021 and Weathers expects a heavy rotation of players on the D-Line…
Cut 18 (24)”…full season.”