COVID-19 Doesn't Hurt Coaches' Wallets

While many of us suffer in Louisiana from draconian job losses due to COVID-19, and an imploding state budget due to the historical drop in the price per barrel for oil, it’s calming  to know that LSU football coaches will be well taken care of.  Athletic director, Scott Woodward,  has submitted to the LSU Board of Supervisors a request to increase the salaries of coaches a whopping average of 28%.

Apparently for a few of these requested increases this is just a formality because some have technically already been approved.  These include Orgeron’s six year, $41 million contract, and the new defensive coordinator’s three year $2.3 million.  Basically, we are talking about nine additional assistant coaches salary boosts, bring the grand total to over $13.5 million for the LSU  football coaching staff.

Second to Orgeron’s ‘sweet deal’ is the one set for offensive line coach, James Cregg, who will receive a 46% salary increase over his last year’s salary.  The other coaches have salary increases that range from 5% on up. 

So as LSU enters very difficult times in terms of the academic cuts, that will be incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will affect its future for several years, it should be reassuring to all to know that LSU football staff will continue to be rewarded for their past successes.

One has to wonder yet again just what are the priorities at LSU as it attempts to move forward?  Certainly if it had not been able to turn out all those wonderful healthcare providers over the years our state would be suffering even more deaths from COVID-19.

Maybe the LSU Board of Supervisors should consider redirecting  those salary increases to reward and help continue that success.  

And yes, I am aware that LSU athletics does donate some of its funds to the LSU operating budget, but the new athletic director is pushing  to rollback that policy.

Seasonal Flu Statistics Irrelevant

Mr Chapotone’s recent letter to the Daily Star is a prime example of the confusion individuals still have regarding the implementation of the country shut down in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.  It’s the same confusion our President initially had in the early stages of the onset.

 

It is irrelevant to ponder the decision for the country shutdown by quoting the number of cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and the number of states involved in a typical flu season.

The shutdown was implemented due to the RATE of hospitalizations over a short period of time.  In a typical flu season hospitalizations are pretty much spread out over a six month period from October to March with a peak usually occurring in February.

COVID-19 on the other hand has had more U.S. hospitalizations during one month than the typical flu season has during its peak month.   Additionally more than 25% of those hospitalized have ended up in the ICU.

To once again bring people up to speed, it was never about the total number of cases of COVID-19, but instead about the rate and severity of the hospitalizations due to its highly contagious characteristics.

Simply put, our entire healthcare system became overloaded from the high rate of infection over a very short period of time, and hospitalization admissions needed to be slowed, thus the “self-distancing” and “shut down”  paradigms.

Sadly, many individuals, like Mr. Chapotone, keep throwing around 6 month seasonal flu statistics in an attempt to show that the COVID-19 is not as serious by comparison, and hinting that perhaps the shutdown measures were unnecessary.  Fortunately, for all, the President came to his senses and realized the rate of hospitalizations needed to be slowed.

In closing, if these individuals who roll out seasonal flu statistics are patient, I predict they will be proven wrong when the same 6 month seasonal flu time frame statics are calculated for COVID-19.   So far during COVID-19’s three month run in the U.S. there are now over 50,000 deaths compared to 61,200 deaths for the entire 6 month 2018-2019 U.S. flu season.   I suspect COVID-19 will surpass every recent seasonal flu statistic, for there is no vaccine available like there is for seasonal flu.

Reopening the French Quarter

This past weekend a full page ad from several business leaders appeared in the Times Picayune as an open letter to the Mayor of New Orleans requesting that the city and, in particular, the French Quarter, be immediately reopened for business.

While it’s easy to rally around this “Open The City” ad, it’s quite another task to instill a sense of infection protection security in potential visitors.  To put it bluntly, before Covid19 hit, the French Quarter was never noted for its sanitary or cleanliness qualities.   Simply reopening the city will not instill a trust among potential visitors that it is indeed free from a high risk of infection.

The city is financially broke and cannot afford the measures necessary to even remotely alleviate visitors’ fears.   Do these businessmen calling for the reopening have a plan and are willing to provide the capital necessary to give tourists and residents assurances that they will have a reduced chance of infection?

To reopen the French Quarter without a plan is foolish and could lead to a total boycott if visitors perceive that nothing changed in its operation to help  protect them.

The N.O. tourist groups are always worried about the crime perception in the Quarter and its effect on potential visitors.  They address it with added police whose presence is visible and reassuring to individuals.

How do they plan to address the Covid-19 perception in the Quarter?

Perhaps the businessmen who posted the “reopen ad” need to post an additional one detailing what they intent to do to help change the sanitary culture of the Quarter, for It would certainly serve a better, more reassuring purpose.

Perception is the controlling factor in the successful return of tourists to the French Quarter.  Simply reopening it without a cultural change may not produce the desired surge in economic revitalization which these businessmen expect.