After much speculation, New Orleans Congressman Cedric Richmond is leaving the U.S. House of Representatives to be a senior adviser to President-Elect Joe Biden. Jeff Palermo has the story…
Cut 1 (32) “ I’m Jeff Palermo”
_______________________________________
With Moderna’s announcement that its COVID-19 shot provides strong protection against the coronavirus, there are now two experimental COVID-19 vaccines that are showing strong early results. Jim Shannon has more…
cut 2 (31) … I’m Jim Shannon.”
_____________________________
U-S Representative Cedric Richmond announced today that before January 20th he will resign as a member of Congress to become a senior adviser to President-Elect Joe Biden…
The Second District Congressman says he’ll have an office in the West Wing and he says he’ll fight to bring much-needed federal resources to Louisiana.
The 47-year-old was first elected to Congress in 2010 after serving as a state representative in the Louisiana Legislature. He says it was not an easy decision to leave Congress after he was just re-elected to a sixth term…
____________________________________________________
In addition to drug maker Pfizer’s announcement last week that their COVID vaccine is 90-percent effective, on Monday, Moderna released news that their vaccine has a 95 percent effectiveness rate.
Associate Professor at Tulane’s School of Medicine Dr. Lisa Morici said the FDA indicated that the benchmark for success would be a 50-percent efficacy rate for a vaccination in stage three clinical trials.
Cut 6 (09) “…encouraging indeed.”
Morici says she’s cautiously optimistic as we are still waiting on safety and efficacy rates from a larger number of clinical trial participants, so far data that’s been submitted is from approximately 100 participants that have been assessed.
Cut 7 (07) “…very encouraging.”
Morici says at this time we don’t know if the vaccine prevents transmission of the virus once you’ve been vaccinated.
Cut 8 (11) “..been vaccinated”
Morici says they hope that the vaccine will remain effective for six months, a year or greater, but until time has passed the data is unavailable.
___________________________________________
The city of New Orleans’ website says there will not be any Mardi Gras parades in 2021. The announcement caught many by surprise. Director of Communications for Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Beau Tidwell, says the mayor has been consistent that Mardi Gras 2021 will have to look different because of the pandemic…
Tidwell says they are asking for input on how carnival season can be celebrated under the current guidelines of no gatherings larger than 250-persons. Carnival krewe captains have been asked to submit detailed plans on how they will comply with COVID-19 guidelines to the city by December 5th and the city will accept public input until December 4th.
Carnival season 2020 was noted as a super spreader event before a pandemic was declared and because of that Tidwell says Mardi Gras 2021 will feel different.
___________________________________________
The state health department reported an additional 25-hundred new coronavirus cases today as Louisiana continues to see a sharp uptick in cases. During a press conference in Calcasieu Parish, Governor John Bel Edwards says the state is experiencing another surge and we need to take covid seriously
Cut 12 (10) “..alive and well”
The number of COVID patients in the hospital is up to 874. That’s a 121 patient increase in just four days. Edwards is asking residents to follow the mitigation measures in order to reduce transmission of the virus…
With the Thanksgiving holiday next week, Edwards is concerned about large family gatherings. The governor says he comes from a family with eight children and they are not getting together this year…