COVID-19 Hasn't Left

Thursday, June 18th, the following headlines appeared in the Hammond Daily Star, “Local high schools to host graduation ceremonies” and “PHS parade rolls this weekend.”   The first story reported that seven high schools in Tangipahoa Parish were implementing traditional senior graduation ceremonies involving the gathering of people, while the second reported the holding of a downtown parade in Ponchatoula followed by a social gathering at a local venue.

Fast forward to Tuesday, June 23th, and the following headline appeared in the New Orleans Advocate, “Grad soiree, DJ party cited as outbreak catalyst.”    That story reported that a June 8th graduation party for Isidore Newman School students and their parents was identified as a source of the COVID-19 spread.  The state health officials reported that dozens of the private school college prep school’s parents and students have been infected.

In disbelief one of the parents of a Newman student who attended the party stated he would be “shocked” if it had sparked an outbreak, but did acknowledge that there “wasn’t a whole lot of mask wearing.”  Only 50 people attended the gathering.  Sadly, he was wrong in his disbelief for both his wife and child tested positive for the virus along with others.

And to make matters worse, many of those with positive results have subsequently visited other relatives and friends, in addition to perspective colleges for possible attendance this fall.  God only knows how many others they’ve now infected.

While we continue to ignore the presence of the COVID-19 and push the envelope of returning to pre-virus normalcy, COVID-19 remains undeterred, and isn’t magically disappearing into the great unknown anytime soon.

Just keep poking the rattle snake with a stick and see what happens.

While it is not necessary to become obsessed with COVID-19 and completely drop out of daily living, it is necessary to stop being stupid by ignoring that some aspects of your life style must change or the virus will continue to spread unimpeded.

The damage done from the graduation ceremonies and the Ponchatoula parade, followed by the social gathering is set in motion and we won’t see the results for possibly two weeks.  Hopefully they are minimal.

 

However one has to wonder about the question posed by Dr. Jennifer Avegno,  Health Director of New Orleans.  She asked the following, “Is the joy of a graduation celebration worth the guilt of infecting others?”  Apparently some city leaders, Tangipahoa parents, and the Tangipahoa School District administrators have decided selfishly that the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

Hopefully our behavior will change or we can instead continue to pretend that everything regarding COVID-19 has mysteriously vaporized and follow the advice from Dr. Avegno, “ If you decide to throw a gathering of 100 or more, look around and decide which seven of them you would be comfortable with sentencing to death.”  The number is even greater if elderly are in attendance.

Just how much are you willing to risk regarding your loved ones and others?  Only time will tell!

Mask Time

I have noticed that our local media are now filled with pictures of selfish and uncaring individuals when it comes to protecting others from COVID-19 by wearing a mask;  particularly, pictured senior citizens, the most vulnerable group for contracting the disease.

While wearing a mask other than N95 has limited results in protecting you from contracting the virus from an infected, non-masked individual, its assistance in preventing an infected individual from transmitting COVID-19 to others is soundly supported by the CDC. 

If you don’t trust the CDC how about the Mayo Clinic?  The following statement appears on the Mayo Clinic’s website, “Asking everyone to wear cloth masks can help reduce the spread of the coronavirus by people who have COVID-19 but don't realize it.”

And therein is where the selfishness and uncaring come into play in our surrounding communities.  Unless all those individuals who choose not to wear a mask got tested and received negative results immediately before interacting with others, they have no idea of whether or not they are a carrier.  And I suspect they go blissfully about in their daily lives uncaring about possibly infecting others in their day to day activities. 

Those who selfishly wish to not wear a mask based upon whatever principle they choose to adhere to, or make up, should at least have the common decency to be more concerned about the others they interact with; particularly those in high risk categories.

It’s not just about you choosing to take a personal risk, but instead also about the others who don’t wish to take that risk.

And for those, who think this was “all a left wing hoax,” tell that to the husband and kids of the front line ER doctor who committed suicide over all the COVID-19 deaths and suffering she encountered, or those front line health care workers who tearfully provided first hand testimony on our news outlets of the horrific events they have and are still witnessing.

Such a minor inconvenience, wearing a mask to protect others.  So simple.

The demise of recycling

Getting people to recycle is a tough enough battle without individuals creating road blocks which limit its success.  The recent decision by Tangipahoa Parish President, Robby Miller, to close recycle drop off sites in Roseland and Hammond will seriously impede recycling efforts in the areas surrounding those closed sites.

By his order a large portion of Tangipahoa recyclers will now have to travel some 25 or more miles to drop off their recycle waste.  That will probably mean that many will no longer recycle.  While it was bad enough that rural parish residents were never afforded the luxury of curbside recycling services, at a minimum of once per month, at least we had the ability of a short drive twice per month at convenient drop off auxiliary locations.

After first trying to convince residents that the closures would benefit them by claiming better access due to extended drop off hours, Mr. Miller retreated and stated that the closures save the parish money.  This is due to the fact that now the parish won’t have to cover the cost of transporting the recyclables from the Hammond and Roseland drop off sites to the Independence land fill site.  However, no supporting cost saving data was presented as to how much this action saved.

Furthermore, the cost of running these satellite locations was already included as part of the parish’s operating budget for the present fiscal year, so it wasn’t necessary to close these locations at this point in time.

The 2020 Tangipahoa Operating budget lists $13 million as the departmental expenditures from the General  Fund.   I am sure the cost of transporting the recyclables from the Hammond and Roseland auxiliary sites to Independence doesn’t cost any more than one percent of that amount, if even that much.  But since no figures were presented to the public with the closure decision no one knows exactly how much we are saving vs sacrificing the environment.

Sadly, Tangipahoa Parish joins others, nationwide, in the notion that recycling is no longer a priority or worth the effort.  The parish president should have been upfront with his support of that belief from the very beginning instead of initiating an end around game which will result the curtailment of parish recycling services all together after the auxiliary sites closures result in reduced use of the inconvenient Independence landfill facility.  He will then be finally able to blame it on the public and curtail the entire recycling service “due to a lack of recycling interest by the public.”

It's Not All About Football

While LSU athletes continue their superiority in the SEC in their athletic skills, when it comes to academics they are dead last according to the recently released NCAA data.

Overall academic rankings for each school were compiled by tracking every student-athlete on scholarship in terms of eligibility, retention and graduation.  Every scholarship student-athlete received a semester academic rating score based upon remaining in school and continuance of academic eligibility.  In the words of athletic director, Scott Woodward, it requires that athletes demonstrate “extraordinary drive and commitment to excel in the classroom and to be elite on the field.”

Several LSU teams excelled in the survey with perfect scores. These included:  gymnastics, women’s golf, softball, women’s cross country, beach volley ball, women’s tennis, men’s track and field, men’s golf, men’s tennis, and men’s cross country.

However, the LSU football team ranked last in the SEC for the third year in a row, which contributed to last place for the school’s academic total ranking, while LSU’s nemesis, Alabama, was second only to Vanderbilt in the overall school academic rankings.

Some might argue that the relevance of such a ranking is irrelevant because, as long as the LSU Tigers keep performing in an elitist fashion on the football field, that’s all that really matters.  But one must not lose sight of the mission of LSU, “As the Flagship institution of the state, the vision of Louisiana State University is to be a leading research-extensive university, challenging undergraduate and graduate students to achieve the highest levels of intellectual and personal development. Designated as a Land, Sea, and Space Grant institution, the mission of Louisiana State University is the generation, preservation, dissemination, and application of knowledge and cultivation of the arts.”

Thanks to yearly draconian academic funding cuts by our esteemed Republican legislators, LSU is finding it more and more difficult to fulfil this mission, and by its continual over emphasis on its athletic successes, particularly regarding football, it further relegates academia to obsolescence.  Additionally, this contributes to people losing sight of why LSU actually exists, which is evidenced by these rankings. It’s not exclusively for football.

As other SEC schools, such as the top four, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss have shown, academics and athletics can co-exist on equal footing in terms of successfulness.  Athletes are students first and athletes second and supporters of the LSU Tigers need to understand and support that fact.

LSU alumni and fans of Tiger football also need to remember that they presently rank last in the SEC in the financial support for the school whose football team they adore.

Maybe the next time they purchase an LSU football ticket, season pass, beer at the game, or a pay-for-view game on their TVs, they should consider giving an equal amount to the university foundation or the academic department of their choosing.  That is, if they truly love them LSU Tigers

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Mask, No Service

Hard to believe all the pushback businesses are getting when they request that customers wear face masks for COVID-19 protection.  We are seeing demonstrations and even physical altercations over this.  Some individuals have even been shot.  People claim it is an infringement on their freedom.

Funny thing is businesses for years have had signs in their windows that read “No shirt, no shoes, no service.”  I don’t recall any protests or claims of restricted freedom over that.  People just comply.

I got to thinking maybe it wasn’t really about one’s freedom after all.  The people of the U.S. have always had the worldwide image as being a very vain population when it comes to their appearance.

Maybe that’s the key to all this foolishness, vanity.  When we cover our faces others can’t see how attractive or handsome we are.  They can’t see our expensive makeup or our expensive plastic surgery nose, cheek, or lip modifications.  They can no longer grasp our natural beauty.  Gee, maybe that’s why Donald doesn’t wear one.

Sadly, these damn masks sometimes make us look similar to each other except for our eye and hair color.  They may even hide that perfectly manicured beard or mustache.  Maybe it’s the perceived loss of our individuality and uniqueness and not our freedom that are the real driving forces behind all this resistance.

If we go along with this temporary request, we will no longer be able to categorize people according to their attractiveness.  Just think if all those online dating sites only included masked individuals.  What a dent that would put in the dating game.  And what about all those bar pickups?

Maybe I’ve carried this a little too far, but then again how do we explain “No shirt, no shoes, no service” is ok, but “No shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service” is an affront to our freedom and serves as the catalyst for protests and refusals to comply.

Give me vanity or give me illness, that is the question!

Trump paved the way for sexual misconduct

As Tara Reade becomes a household name for accusing Joe Biden, the person most likely to be chosen to challenge Donald Trump for the presidency, of sexual misconduct,  it’s shameful that very few of Trump’s supporters could name even one of the more than two dozen women who have accused him of sexual assault and misconduct.

The list of public accusers of President Donald Trump include: Kristin Anderson, Lisa Boyne, Cathy Heller, Temple McDowell, Karena Virginia, Bridget Sullivan, Tasha Dixon, Mindy McGillivray, Rachel Crooks, Natasha Stoynoff, Jennifer Murphy, Jessica Drake, Ninni Laaksonen, Summer Zervos, Samantha Holvey, Mariah Billado, Victoria Hughes, Juliet Huddy, Alva Johnson, Karen Johnson, Cassandra Searles, Jill Harth, E. Jean Carroll, Jessica Leeds, and Ivana Trump.

However, all these Trump accusers have become forgotten souls in the coverage of Joe Biden and Tara Reade.

As was the case with Donald, Joe claims “It never happened.”  We shall see how this plays out and whether or not it becomes a major nasty political ad campaign talking point by the Republicans.  How hypocritical will that be?  But when it comes to both Democrats and Republicans, there’s no shortage of hypocrisy.  It’s known as politics.

Fortunately,  for Joe Biden, the President has set the bar very low for sexual misconduct, and has brilliantly molded the voters’  mindset to simply brush off such aberrant behavior as “no big deal.”  Consequently, there should be little backlash for Mr. Biden.

So now we have two upstanding individuals running for president, Donald and Joe.  That is if Joe wins the Democratic nomination.  Is this the best we have to offer? Sadly, yes.

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.