News + Notes • Page 2 • The Current

March 17

Link: Are detention ponds the answer to Lafayette’s flooding problems?

LCG is pursuing five massive detention projects to address flooding in Lafayette Parish. One project would convert a sugar cane field into a 200-acre pond. Detention ponds hold water during storm events, slowing flows to the river and other drainage channels. In the floods 2016, water overflowed out of drainage channels and into thousands of homes.

LCG made public necessity declarations for five parcels, freezing them from commercial development while studies are completed. KLFY reports that public works officials have reviewed 90 sites, narrowing the field to 20, including the five currently under consideration.

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Currency

Geoff Daily / March 15

COLUMN: How Lafayette can pivot from oil and gas with what it already has

A generational challenge has no easy solutions. But there are opportunities to pivot using what we already have at our disposal.

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7 min read

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News + Notes

March 12

Link: Louisiana Covid hospitalizations hit lowest count in almost a year

Hospitals reported 478 Covid patients Friday, the lowest total since March 2020. Louisiana’s third surge has steadily abated since hospitalizations peaked in January at 2,069. Acadiana, which at one time led the state in Covid hospitalizations, counted just 51 in-patients. The region has not reported fewer than 44 Covid hospitalizations since the end of March 2020, just weeks after the area confirmed its first cases. Vaccinations and improved therapies have dramatically cut hospital stays and mortality.

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News + Notes

Dan Boudreaux / March 11

Touchless prescription delivery startup expands after successful Covid launch

Launched as a pandemic pivot, Presto’s touchless medicine delivery service is expanding after an early run of success.

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4 min read

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Solution Hub

Nicole Mistretta / March 11

Volunteer-run Covid vaccine scheduling line targets persistent access gaps in Lafayette

Despite growing supply, there are people who want vaccines and are struggling to get them.

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6 min read

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News + Notes

March 9

Link: COVID vaccine eligibility expands to 1.6 million people

Louisiana is expanding vaccine eligibility to include most adults with certain health conditions that put them at high risk. Announced Tuesday by Gov. John Bel Edwards, the new eligibility extends the age range in the high risk pool to as young as 16-years-old, substantially increasing the current priority group. Around 1.6 million people are estimated to now qualify. Below are the conditions listed in the update:

moderate to severe asthma
cerebrovascular disease
cystic fibrosis
hypertension or high blood pressure
immunocompromised state from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids or use of other immune weakening medicines
neurologic conditions, such as dementia
liver disease
overweight
pulmonary fibrosis
thalassemia
type 1 diabetes mellitus