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.
Acadiana

Calling home: Sheltering in hotels to escape coronavirus, Acadiana’s homeless got back on their feet
While coronavirus raged, hundreds found their way to hotels where case managers could connect them with food, doctors and income, often for the first time.

Feds grant another $1.4 million to Lafayette for emergency housing assistance
The gist: Identified as a place at “higher risk” for evictions, Lafayette will receive a second and larger round of federal stimulus dollars intended for housing aid during the pandemic. At just under $1.4 million, the block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development nearly doubles the last allocation Lafayette received, one […]

Coronavirus Updates: Louisiana staying in Phase 2; ‘We all need to do a better job’
In light of growing cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Edwards will not move Louisiana to the next phase of reopening. Rebounds across the state — and in Acadiana in particular — have derailed efforts to flatten the state’s curve and forced the pause.

Fix the ballot, Lafayette
Why is America so badly governed? Blaming voters or politicians is the wrong answer. It’s how we vote.

That thing about the Acadiana flag isn’t really about the flag
A civil rights researcher, Rick Swanson has spent the better part of the last two years probing Acadiana’s racial scars and open wounds in public presentations.