COVID-19

Louisiana will suffer a 5.3% job loss in the first half of this year — 104,400 jobs — due to the impact of COVID-19, according the 2021-22 Louisiana Economic Outlook.
The downturn will be the worst the state has experienced since the early 1980s when Louisiana lost 147,900 jobs (-9%) over a six-year period.
The report is produced by LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business Professor Emeritus of Economics Loren Scott and Greg Upton, associate professor-research at the Center for Energy Studies.

The St. Landry Parish School Board voted to send students in pre-kindergarten to fourth-grade back to school full-time and fifth through 12th grades in a hybrid schedule.
Students are also allowed the option of continuing to learn virtually.
Grades five to 12 will be hybrid, which will mean two groups alternating weekly with three days in school and two virtually.
The decision was made during a special meeting Friday over Zoom with at least 500 connections monitoring the session.

For the last several months, researchers from the LSU College of Engineering and School of Veterinary Medicine have tested wastewater in various areas around East Baton Rouge Parish to track cases of coronavirus. What they have found, thus far, is that cases increased soon after Louisiana moved into Phase 2 and dropped after the city-parish instituted a mask-wearing mandate.
Now they will implement that research on the LSU campus to help determine numbers and location of cases.