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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Health
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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Trust, representation and access are big hurdles for vaccine distribution in Lafayette’s Black community
The proportion of African Americans who’ve gotten their first vaccine shot continues to fall short both nationally and in Lafayette Parish.
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Reader Reactions: This is Lafayette
Overwhelmingly, respondents said recent press accurately reflected Lafayette and that our community is getting worse.
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For two straight weeks, fewer than 5% of coronavirus tests performed in Lafayette Parish have come back positive, meeting the threshold to opt back in to limited indoor service for the first time since November. On Wednesday, Mayor-President Josh Guillory did just that, notifying the governor that he will allow Lafayette bars to re-open at 25% occupancy. Permitting loopholes and lax enforcement have kept much of Lafayette’s night life humming throughout the pandemic, with crowds piling up Downtown on weekends. But some big clubs will remain closed because of the low cap on occupancy.
Evictions, homelessness surge in southwest Louisiana after hurricanes
Catastrophes collided on Lake Charles in 2020 and scattered an already fragile housing market to the wind. Homelessness is climbing despite stays on evictions in what should be a cautionary tale for the rest of the state.
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COLUMN: Passing a local mask mandate will help Lafayette’s businesses
Lost in the rancor is consideration of the positive impact that a mask mandate will have on Lafayette’s businesses.
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UPDATE: LCG passes $7 million rent assistance plan
December’s booster shot of federal stimulus will send $7 million in rent and utility assistance to Lafayette Parish, a figure that dwarfs previous local allocations but that advocates say still falls short of projected need. LCG is working through how to get the money out quickly.
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Antibody infusions are stemming Covid hospitalizations in Lafayette
Doctors at Lourdes and Ochsner Lafayette General believe the infusion has prevented hundreds of hospital admissions and dozens of deaths so far.
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The pandemic surfaced deep disparities in access to healthcare, with early data showing a disproportionate impact on the Black community. So far, Louisiana isn’t collecting sufficient data to know whether those disparities are playing out in who gets vaccinated. It’s not just about the logistics of where doses go, either. Health officials speculate that generational distrust of government health programs among Black Americans, seeded by medical experiments conducted by public health agencies, may ward them away. Health equity has become a point of emphasis in public policy — both Louisiana and Lafayette Consolidated Government, for instance, created health equity task forces.
But right now, we don’t have a clear picture of the issue with respect to the vaccine program.
Long scarce, Black therapists counsel Lafayette through the division and disconnection of the Covid era
The pandemic has worsened mental health vulnerabilities by exacerbating pre-existing racial inequities in healthcare. Black therapists are stepping in to close the gap.
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Celebrating the Covid vaccine, Lafayette doctors work to assure a skeptical public
There’s still a lot to learn about Covid and the vaccines heralded to end its terrorizing. Uncertainty has bred anxiety that the cure could be worse than the disease, even among Americans who aren’t opposed to vaccinations altogether. Here are some FAQs.
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