Recent positive rates indicate Avoyelles may be losing ground in COVID battle

It is too early to draw conclusions, and certainly premature to raise the white flag in Avoyelles Parish's war with COVID-19, but the parish does appear to be losing ground in that fight.

But like any battle, one side can quickly make up ground before the final bugle sounds.

Recent positive rates in daily updates this week showed the parish's rate at over 10 percent for the week as of Wednesday. That reflected 36 new cases out of 350 tests.

And while the parish can take heart that the state has found its positive rate to be under 5 percent for five consecutive weeks, it should also take note that the rate has risen slightly for each of the
past two seven-day periods reviewed. It was 4.2 percent for the period of Oct. 8-14 and 4.4 percent for Oct. 15-21.

Also, this newspaper's unofficial tracking of the positive rate from Oct. 21 to Oct. 28 found it to be above 5 percent for that eight-day period. The state's next official weekly positive report will be based on results from Oct. 22-28 when it makes its update on Nov. 4 and from Oct. 29-Nov. 4 in the Nov. 11 update.

The good news amid the somewhat concerning indications is that there had been no additional COVID-related deaths in the parish since Oct. 11.

LEGISLATORS' PETITION

This comes at a time when COVID is surging in other states and the Louisiana House of Representatives has filed a petition to lift COVID-control measures for seven days.

State Rep. Daryl Deshotel said the state law that gave the governor broad emergency powers for handling public health crises contains a provision that allows either chamber of the Legislature to withdraw that power if a majority of members signs a petition.

"The legislators and the attorney general believe the withdrawal of those emergency provisions went into effect when we delivered the petition to the governor" on Oct. 23, Deshotel said. "The governor filed suit against the Legislature, saying the petition is unconstitutional. We disagree."

Attorney General Jeff Landry was in court defending the validity of the petition this past week.

"This petition is not about masks and bars," Deshotel said. "It is about the fundamental way we operate our republic."

He said Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed two bills passed by the Legislature that would establish a framework for dealing with future health emergencies, because "they would have required him to coordinate with the Legislature and he does not want to do that."

“They are acting as if the public health emergency is over,” Edwards said at a press conference shortly after receiving the petition on Oct. 23. “If I understand their intentions, I will tell you that it’s reckless and irresponsible and unconscionable.”

Edwards said COVID "doesn’t care that you’re tired of it. It doesn’t care that you don’t care. It just doesn’t work like that.”

He noted that over 5,600 Louisianians have died from COVID-19.

"That's more people than live in my hometown," Edwards said. "How many more does it require to get people's attention and to get them to take this seriously?"

There is also a chance the legislators' action could threaten $1 billion of federal funds related to COVID relief/recovery efforts, Matthew Block, the governor's general counsel, said.

Deshotel said that if the petition is upheld, all state restrictions would be immediately lifted. Local governments could choose to keep the Edwards measures in place within their jurisdictions.

Those who embraced the lifting would remove seating capacities, mask mandates and other restrictions imposed to try to control the spread of the virus.

"We're not saying those things aren't needed," Deshotel continued. "They would be a choice, not a state mandate. The governor has been making law without the input of the Legislature, and we believe that should not happen.

"I'm not saying rules aren't needed, but I am saying the Legislature
needs to be involved in the rule-making process," he added.

Deshotel said the lifting of restrictions would only be for seven days, at which time Edwards could issue another emergency proclamation reinstating those provisions. If that was done without appropriate input from legislators, the governor could expect to get another petition on his desk, Deshotel said.

"The Legislature is the voice of the people," he continued. "We're the only voice the people have and we want a
seat at the table when decisions are being made that affect them."