Family First Magazine – September 2020
September 3, 2020
Bayou Business Monthly – September 2020
September 3, 2020
Terrebonne Parish is in a better place with COVID-19 now than it was in July; however, parish officials still caution that the pandemic is not over.
At the Terrebonne Parish Council meeting on Tuesday night, Earl Eues, Director of the Terrebonne Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (TOHSEP), detailed progress that has been made locally.
June there were 394 COVID cases in the parish, and in July, that number shot up to 1,625 cases, according to Eues. The parish had approximately 650 cases of COVID, he said, for the month of August.
“You can see…the 4th of July issues,” Eues added. “This was before we had the mask mandate. So now that the mask mandate has been in place, we see our numbers are going down.”
Eues went to note that there were 10, 17 and 20 deaths in June, July and August, respectively.
The director said 2,959 persons in the parish have recovered from COVID-19, leaving 374 active cases as of Sunday.
For the month of August, Terrebonne hospitals averaged about 17 to 19 coronavirus patients per day, Eues said, and that number was up to 35 patients at the end of July. Hospitals are seeing four to six people in the ICU per day and two to four on ventilators per day related to COVID-19, he said.
Although there’s a lot of going on in the world, including hurricane recovery efforts and other issues happening around the state and country, Eues took the time to remind everyone that the pandemic is not over.
“We still need to remember to comply with the six-foot distancing. Wear your mask; continue to sanitize your hands and anything that you touch,” he said. “Continue those practices that we’ve been doing for the last six months.”
Councilman John Navy asked Eues about a vaccine, before referencing the multiple reports that came out yesterday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told officials in every state to be ready to distribute a vaccine as soon as late October, prioritizing health care professionals, essential workers, long-term care facility residents and staff and national security populations, according to a CNN report.
“I was hoping by the end of the year, so that’s pretty much in the fourth quarter,” Eues said. “So if that happens, it’ll be a great thing.”
“But we need people to take the vaccine in order for it to work,” he continued. “Most of you know, a lot of people don’t take the regular flu vaccine. Right now is a good time to promote taking the regular flu vaccines so that way we don’t inundate the hospitals with people that are going to get sick with the flu.”
Navy also asked about displaced Lake Charles-area residents and if officials were worried about the spreading of the virus, as the area saw a spike in cases prior to Hurricane Laura.
Eues explained that evacuees were placed in non-congregate shelters, such as hotels. Now, he said, some are in mega shelters, which have enough room for evacuees to space out. He went on to say Terrebonne had some evacuees, but he believes they have been transferred to New Orleans.
Councilman Gerald Michel asked how long would it take to get enough people vaccinated for it to make a difference and if the vaccine will cover multiple strands of the virus.
He hasn’t received the information to answer those two questions yet, Eues said. He also noted that the CDC hasn’t said if it will be a one-part or two-part vaccine, the latter of which could become an issue of people don’t get the second part. He also added that there was a report of someone who contracted COVID twice, but it was a different strain the second time.
“A virus mutates in its life cycle, so we’re going to have those issues,” Eues added. “We’ll never get down to zero COVID because we don’t get down to zero flu — because people don’t take the vaccine.”
After Navy asked about a vaccine requirement for students to enter schools, Eues said he hasn’t received that information either. However, he said if he had to guess, they will probably be able to opt-out such as they do with other vaccines.
Although the numbers are lower compared to a few months ago, Councilman Carl Harding reiterated that the public should still take the same COVID-19 safety measures, especially for those that are participating in Laura relief efforts.
“…Continue the same habits that you have in Terrebonne Parish when you’re going back and forth in that particular area so that we can maintain our safety,” he continued, “not only for ourselves but for those people [as well].”
