Editorial Roundup: Louisiana

Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:

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Feb. 3

The Houma Courier on flu prevention:

Health officials want you to know that while the coronavirus that started in China is new, the risk to most Americans remains low. In fact, many are warning that what you really need to be concerned about is a more familiar illness that is certain to kill thousands of Louisiana residents and tens of thousands of Americans: flu.

As of Saturday, the World Health Organization reported nearly 12,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 259 deaths, mostly in and around Wuhan, China, where it first appeared last month. Eight cases have turned up across the U.S. — none in Louisiana, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most or all of have travelled from China.

In comparison, the U.S. has seen 19 million cases of flu, 180,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths, USA Today reported Saturday. Worldwide, seasonal flu epidemics cause between 3 million and 5 million severe cases and kill up to 650,000 people every year.

“That just far surpasses the amount of cases compared to the novel coronavirus,” Dr. Nora Colburn, an infectious disease physician at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, told the news outlet.” “If you didn’t travel specifically to Wuhan, China, or have contact with a person with suspected or known (to have) coronavirus, your chance of contracting this is extremely low.”

State officials said much the same last week in a story published by The Courier and Daily Comet.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and in line with guidance from the CDC, we have expanded our recommendation for providers and health care facilities to contact the Louisiana Department of Health to report any individual who has travelled to China in the last 14 days and shows signs of upper or lower respiratory tract infection,” Dr. Alex Billioux, assistant secretary for the Office of Public Health, said. “As a result, we do expect that the number of persons under investigation will increase, but that does not necessarily mean that the risk to the public is increasing. Rather, it means we are being proactive and taking every precaution.”

Louisiana’s flu season, meanwhile, got off to an early start, with a widespread outbreak starting in October, according to the state Health Department. So far, more than 47,000 cases have been reported statewide. Last year, flu resulted in 14,000 hospitalizations and 1,400 deaths in the state.

Despite numerous warnings during this and past seasons, state surveys late last year indicated only 1 in 4 Louisiana residents had received the flu shot this year. State and federal health officials have consistently promoted vaccination as a safe and effective way to help individuals and the community at large avoid the flu. Nonetheless, myths and misunderstandings have contributed to less than half of American adults getting a shot the past few years.

Asked why they do not intend to get vaccinated, adults in a University of Chicago study last December were most likely to cite concerns about side effects, at 36%. Another third said they’re concerned the vaccine will make them sick. And another third said don’t need the vaccine because they never get the flu or don’t think the shot works.

All of those reasons are bogus; health officials around the world have debunked them over and over again.

That’s especially important if you spend time with people who are at risk for serious illness from the flu, like young children or older adults, the agency says.

For most of us, coronavirus, for now at least, is something to monitor but nothing to worry about. Flu, however, is a much more serious threat that requires action. And the best way to prevent it, and protect those around you, is to get a shot.

Online: https://www.houmatoday.com/

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Jan. 30

The (Lake Charles) American Press on auto insurance rates in the state:

When the Louisiana Legislature meets in March, one of its top priorities should be to lower auto insurance rates in the state.

According to The Zebra, an auto insurance comparison website, Louisiana has the second-highest auto insurance rates in the nation and New Orleans has the second-highest for cities in the nation.

Louisiana’s annual rate is $2,379, second in the nation only to Michigan, which has an annual rate of $3,096, the highest. Likewise, New Orleans has a whopping annual $3,735 rate, second only to Detroit at a massive $6,208 rate, according to Zebra. Baton Rouge had the seventh highest rates, $2,855, for U.S. cities.

By comparison, the annual auto insurance rate in Texas, ranked 30th, is $1,415; Arkansas, 14, $1,698; and Mississippi, 19, $1,587. In addition, Texas has largest insurance rate decrease at -20%.

The Zebra report analyzed more than 73 million car insurance rates, dozens of risk trends and risk factors and how they affect insurance pricing nationwide.

There is no excuse for Louisiana to have such high auto insurance rates compared to surrounding states, other than the state’s policies and laws.

Here some other findings in the report.

– The cost of car insurance keeps rising, with average rates up nearly 30% since 2011.

– Average rates now exceed $,200 in some cities, more than four times the national average.

– The cost of car insurance — and the impact of rising rates — is significantly different from one place to the next.

– Since 2011, rates have increased (as much as 86%) in 44 states and Washington D.C., while seven states have seen decreases.

– Since last year, rates have changed as much as 21% in some states.

Among the reasons given are new technologies driving up car costs, and technology changing driving behaviour and distracting drivers.

It is up legislators and other state officials to come up ways to put Louisiana on a downward trend for auto insurance rates. Texas might be a good place to start by finding out how it decreased rates by -20%. The entire report is available at www.thezebra.com/state-of-insurance/auto/2020/#download.

Online: https://www.americanpress.com/

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Jan. 30

The Advocate on the monument of Confederate General “Alfred” Mouton:

The “Battle of Mouton Monument,” a seemingly inexhaustible Lafayette conflict, has lasted longer than the Civil War itself. The legal struggle continues with a spring court date.

By most standards, Mouton, a West Point-trained Confederate brigadier general who was killed at the Battle of Mansfield, was popular with his troops and was a capable, brave officer whose life ended on a DeSoto Parish battlefield in 1864. He was 35.

His image hovers in statue form over a busy Lafayette intersection, in front of the old City Hall, where it has resided for almost a century — in recent years to the consternation of new critics. The problem, they suggest, is not necessarily with Mouton’s public record as a soldier but rather with his private conduct before the war. But we suspect Confederate ties matter.

New Orleans fought this battle during Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s second term, with Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard statues all vanquished by 2017. Though monuments are gone, some ill feelings linger. Change is never easy.

Mouton, an Opelousas native of proud family lines in Lafayette, was a slave owner and a vigilante. Research suggests Mouton as a local militiaman was heavy-handed in dealing with enslaved blacks and others among lower classes.

Mouton’s statue, though, was not erected to celebrate Mouton the vigilante but rather Mouton the valiant soldier, who fought against invading Union forces, including during the Teche and Red River campaigns.

This 2020 battle involves the Daughters of the Confederacy, which paid for the statue to be erected in 1922, and fellow Confederate aficionados vs. local groups that say, quite rightly, sensibilities have changed, that Mouton today doesn’t merit the reverence he once held. Few figures can withstand a century of scrutiny.

The continuing fight about this statue’s location on city property raises myriad questions, going forward. Perhaps answering them can help avoid new problems. How long must a statue remain on public property? Is 100 years not enough, as Mouton statue supporters say? Is 200 years enough? Or should old monuments that lose relevance be moved aside?

Was City Hall the right site for a general’s statue? Would it have been more appropriately placed on a battlefield? (There’s a Mouton monument at Mansfield.)

Who should we honour with statues? Where should we honour them? Those are questions that ought to be answered before the first shovel turns, before the marble has been purchased.

Online: https://www.theadvocate.com/