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During this time when people are told to stay home to curb the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), stores remain open to allow for the purchase of essential items.
Unfortunately, not everyone can get out for those much-needed items, like cleaning supplies.
Abbeville Councilwoman Terry Broussard and her team have been working to make sure that the most vulnerable who live in District D are not going without.
“It was important that my team and I do something,” Broussard said. “I know that the kids are being taken care of because they are being fed by the school system.
“One morning I woke up with an idea.”
Broussard and “Team Terry” have gotten together in this time of uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic to help the senior citizens in the community by putting together preparation bags for dissemination in the district. They are necessities that have been purchased from various businesses in the community by Councilwoman Terry Broussard and her Team along with citizens that wanted to donate.
“I’d like to extend a huge thank you to my Team,” Broussard, “I’m truly grateful for each of them.”
Broussard and members of her Team distributed the bags on Saturday. Gathering items to fill the bags took place during the course of the past couple of weeks. Bags included paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, wipes, water, snacks and toothpaste. “We went around to local stores to purchase the different items,” Broussard said. “We had three people who made financial donations to help purchase items. The rest we paid for ourselves.”
Broussard and her Team are always looking for ways to help the district and community. As far as she is concerned, the seniors being helped now are the ones who have done what Broussard and her Team are doing now.
“I know so many of them paved the way for our community,” Broussard said. “If they could today, they would be doing the same things to help others.”

While Louisiana’s COVID-19 case count appears to be leveling off, Governor John Bel Edwards Tuesday warned of taking slightly better numbers to mean infection rates are diminishing. The Louisiana Department of Health posted 1,417 additional Coronavirus cases since Monday, 400 less than the 1,857 new cases posted the day before.

“We are seeing early signs that the curve is starting to flatten, though we can’t say that in all confidence,” Edwards admitted in the daily press conference at his Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness miles east of the Capitol. “What this means is, we have to continue to do the things that have caused the slowing of the spread, and that’s the mitigation measures, the stay-at-home order. You want to see our numbers spike, you stop those mitigation measures, and I promise you they will be right back up there. This week is still going to be difficult and next week will be difficult.”

Most distressing, Louisiana COVID-19 deaths continue unabated. From Monday to Tuesday, 70 more Louisianans died, the largest single one-day jump. That brings the state total to 582 deaths out of 16,284 confirmed cases of the virus. Private and state laboratories have completed 74,655 tests.

“We have ramped up testing and we are now Number One in the country in per capita testing,” the governor added. “But we’re not satisfied with that. In fact, we want a lot more testing and a lot more testing in rural areas especially.”

Of the state’s 75,000 administered tests, Orleans Parish commands the lion’s share of 20,000. Of those, 5,000 New Orleaneans have tested positive so far. In northwest Louisiana, diagonally farthest from Orleans, Caddo Parish is the next most tested area with just over 12,000 residents swabbed for the virus, resulting in almost 800 COVID cases. Next, but far down the list in testing, is East Baton Rouge where just over 5,000 citizens have been tested, resulting in over 900 confirmed infections. Three weeks into testing for Coronavirus, Louisiana’s capitol city has been tested at half the rate of Shreveport-Bossier and only 25 percent of that in New Orleans.

“Orleans, unfortunately, was at the forefront of this outbreak,” explains Dr. Alex Billioux, Assistant Secretary of Public Health at Louisiana’s Department of Health. “We consolidated two FEMA sites in New Orleans, put most of our resources there, and we just have more hospitals and healthcare resources in the greater New Orleans area that are doing in-house testing. We’re, looking at how we reallocate resources to do more adequate testing across the state especially in rural areas. We want to make sure that wherever COVID is, we’re seeing it, identifying it, isolating it, and reducing the spread.”

Dr. Billioux, a graduate of Johns Hopkins, says a problem in Baton Rouge has been the bottleneck in administering the tests and confirming results.

“There’s a challenge we’ve had nationally of the swabs that go in the nose,” Billioux says. “We’re looking at alternative swab types and using those. That would certainly increase our ability to test more and faster in the capital and in rural areas.”

The New Orleans population will nearly touch 400,000 in this year’s census, while Baton Rouge is expected to post 226,000 residents. Shreveport has 188,000. While Shreveport’s tests-to-positives ratio is 7 out of 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19, New Orleans is 25 out of 100. But Baton Rouge, in testing thus far, registers 17 out of 100, much closer to the Crescent City in positive results.

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Health has updated its website to reflect the latest number of COVID-19 positives and will continue to update its website at noon each day.
As of noon on April 7, the Department reported 1,417 additional cases since yesterday, bringing the total to 16,284 positive cases.

Hospitalization

Hospitalization information reported to the Department of Health yesterday was incomplete. 1,809 hospitalizations were reported yesterday but that number should have been 1,981 hospitalizations. The number of patients requiring ventilation yesterday should have been 552, which is lower than what was reported yesterday.
Today, a total of 1,996 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized; of those, 519 patients require ventilation.
Information on available hospital beds, ICU beds and hospital vents is on the LDH dashboard.
“Hospitals across the state continue to do incredible work to aggressively treat COVID-19 patients. Physicians are using innovative treatments and practices to minimize the time patients spend on ventilators and reduce the length of hospitalization for patients,” said Dr. Alex Billioux, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Public Health. “We remain grateful for our health care heroes in every region of our state.”

Deaths

The Department reports an additional 70 deaths since yesterday, bringing the total to 582 deaths. Deaths are listed on the LDH dashboard by parish under the by parish tab and information by age can be found on the by age tab.
Yesterday, additional information was added to the LDH website to share a breakdown of deaths by race and underlying conditions by percentage.

The Vermilion Parish School Board will provide grab and go meals at Cecil Picard Elementary, Dozier Elementary, Eaton Park Elementary, Forked Island/E. Broussard Elementary, Gueydan High School, J. H. Williams Middle, and Rene Rost Middle until Thursday, April 9, 2020.
In an effort to continue to provide meals and maintain the safety and health of the staff, students, parents/guardians and community, the school district is announcing a new program that will deliver meals to your doorstep for free.
This program is called Meals-to-You, and it is a partnership between the local district, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Baylor University.
Your student(s) enrolled with the Vermilion Parish School Board are eligible to participate in the program.
When you sign up to get a Meals-to-You, every other week you will get a Meals-to-You box delivered to your home for each child 1-18 years in your household. Each box will include 10 breakfasts and 10 lunches that are kid-friendly and shelf stable — enough food for each child for 2 weeks!
Households are urged to complete an application by Wednesday, April 8, 2020 by 11:59 p.m. to receive meals.

WHO QUALIFIES?
• All VPSB students enrolled at a CEP school site
-Siblings, 0-18 yrs, living in the home of a student enrolled at a CEP school site
• All VPSB students enrolled at a non-CEP school site that are currently receiving free or reduced meals
• Siblings, 0-18 yrs, living in the home of a student enrolled at non-CEP school site receiving free/reduced meals

HOW DO YOU SIGN-UP
All you have to do is fill out the form online by the due date of April 8, 2020. The application can be accessed by going to the Vermilion Parish School Board website at www.vpsb.net.

The following information will be required during the sign-up process:
• Parent/Guardian Name, Phone Number, Email
• Physical Mailing Address ***Very important for the meal delivery***
• School District – Vermilion Parish School Board
-Campus/School Name Currently Attending
•Student ID Number, Name, Birthdate, Gender (Student ID found on student’s gmail account or Parent Portal)
• Additional Sibling Information
Boxes will be provided on a first come, first served basis, so sign up online today! After the due date has passed, the Meals-to-You deliveries will not be available. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact the Meal Service Hotline at 898-5702.