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July 19, 1928 ~ April 16, 2020

LEROY — Graveside services will be held honoring the life of Laodice LeBlanc, 91, who died Thursday, April 16, 2020 at his residence. He will be laid to rest at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cemetery.
He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Laura Meaux LeBlanc of Meaux; his daughter Lynn L. Pere and her husband, Doug of Abbeville; his grandson, Brandon Pere and his wife, Mindy of Youngsville; and two great grandchildren, Jackson and Hayes Pere of Youngsville; and his sister, Betty Shetters of Florida.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Martin LeBlanc and the former Estelle Viator; his brother, Winnis LeBlanc: and two sisters, Eunice Hogarth and Nanna Mae Sneed.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Kaplan, (337) 643-7276.

With all that goes into preparing for a festival, coupled with the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, many festival organizers around the state are in evaluation mode.
A decision on a long-standing Vermilion Parish tradition that is held each year in Abbeville has already been made.
Louisiana Cattle Festival President Francis Plaisance announced Thursday morning that the 72nd Annual Louisiana Cattle Festival would be not be held in its regularly scheduled time in October.
“Due to unfortunate circumstances involving the COVID-19 virus,” Plaisance said, “the Louisiana Cattle Festival Board has decided to canceled the 72nd Annual Louisiana Cattle Festival, scheduled for October 1-4, 2020.”
Plaisance said this is an unprecedented move by the organization.
“The Festival has been rescheduled but never canceled in its 72-year history,” Plaisance said, “but for the health and safety of the community, it is necessary to do so this year.”
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has a Stay-at-Home order in effect through April 30. Groups of no more than 10 people and social distancing of at least six feet are measures that are being taken to help limit the spread of coronavirus.
“Large gatherings would only create more spread of the disease,” Plaisance said. “The Festival will continue to comply with the social distancing policies issued by the Governor and local officials.”
Plaisance added that members of the Cattle Festival board felt the normal steps needed to properly prepare for the festival are not right for this moment in time.
“The Board decided that asking sponsors to participate in this year’s festival would present undue burden at a time when employees are losing their jobs and businesses are struggling,” Plaisance said. “Also, it would be difficult to organize and get commitments to put on such a large festival.”
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell recommended this week that no large gatherings take place in the city for the remainder of 2020. Some festivals held annually in New Orleans have already announced cancellations for this year.
Organizers of the Delcambre Shrimp Festival announced this week that the event is still set for Aug. 13-16.
Plaisance said the decision on the Cattle Festival did not come easily.
“We appreciate the patience and understanding of all of our loyal festival supporters,” Plaisance said. “We look forward to the 2021 festival on the first weekend of October. You may direct any questions concerning the Festival or the Red Barn anytime to Francis Plaisance, President at (337) 652-0646 or by e-mail at ragin70510@yahoo.com.”

ABBEVILLE — Graveside funeral service will be held Saturday, April 18, 2020 for Gregory Paul Evans, Sr. who passed away Saturday, April 11, 2020 at the V.A. Hospital in New Orleans, LA. 
January 6, 1963 to James A. Evans, Sr. And Darlene Davenport Evans. He was educated in the Abbeville public school system and graduated from Abbeville High School. He served in the Louisiana National Guard before enlisting and serving in the United States Army. Gregory left this earth on Saturday, April, 11, 2020.
Gregory was preceded in death by his mother, grandparents, uncles, aunts and dear cousins. He leaves to cherish his memory his father James A. Evans, Sr., three children, Sarika Nicholson, Gregory P. Evans, Jr. and Jarell Evans (Angelle); grandchildren, Larnell, Londyn, Jamir, Ka’Moni and Seth. Also siblings Linda Bailey (Kevin), Arlette Evans and James A. Evans, Jr., as well as a host of beloved nieces, nephews, dear friends and special cousins.
In light of the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the family will have visitation and burial reserved for the immediate family on Saturday, April 18, 2020.
Arrangements entrusted to Kinchen Funeral Home Inc., 218 North St. Valarie, Abbeville, LA 70510   Additionally, condolences to the family can be expressed on our website at www.kinchenfuneralhome.com.

Harvard University epidemiologists are warning that eradicating COVID-19 from the United States may take a lot longer than anyone wants to hear. As Louisiana broke above the milestone of over 1,000 Coronavirus deaths this week, Science magazine published the findings of Harvard researchers who summarized that Americans could see recurring COVID outbreaks as far out as the year 2024.

“The total incidence of COVID-19 illness over the next five years will depend critically upon whether or not it enters into regular circulation after the initial pandemic wave,” the report hypothesized, “which in turn depends primarily upon the duration of immunity that SARS-CoV-2 infection imparts.” (The full report can be found online at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/14/science.abb5793....)

But researchers warned that relaxing social distancing now could backfire. They proposed some form of social distancing may be required for two years.

“Less effective one-time distancing efforts may result in a prolonged single-peak epidemic,” the epidemiology team stated, “with the extent of strain on the healthcare system and the required duration of distancing depending on the effectiveness. Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available. The authors are aware that prolonged distancing, even if intermittent, is likely to have profoundly negative economic, social, and educational consequences. Our goal in modeling such policies is not to endorse them but to identify likely trajectories of the epidemic under alternative approaches, identify complementary interventions such as expanding ICU capacity and identifying treatments to reduce ICU demand, and to spur innovative ideas to expand the list of options to bring the pandemic under long-term control.”

Louisiana Congressman and Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who spent three months in critical care and surgeries after a would-be assassin shot him in 2017, said the Catch-22 is balancing safety with saving the economy.

“Through social distancing, we’ve seen we can reduce the spread of the disease but we also know you can’t keep the economy closed for 6 months or to 2024. There won’t be an economy left,” Scalise told reporters at Thursday’s daily press briefing in Baton Rouge. He was invited to attend by Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards.

“Do we want to see 25% unemployment?” Scalise asked. “That’s not where we want to go so we’ve got to be smarter about it. It’s not a question of whether the disease is going away. Just like the flu comes back every season, we expect it [COVID-19] is going to boomerang back in the fall sometime. So you’ve got to take those precautions now.”

Governor Edwards added, “We have not had discussions with Vice President Mike Pence or the President or any conversations about the Harvard study. But I’m sure that as these studies come out, they will inform the CDC [Center for Disease Control] in terms of the guidance they give us.”

Louisiana’s Department of Health conducted its own study to model infection rates based on three scenarios not using drug therapies: a “no lockdown restriction” baseline, which purported to spike last week; one using “social distancing” alone; and finally a lockdown “shelter in place” scenario that spans into summer. Naturally, the projection curves of infections and hospitalizations flatten and are much less severe as more people stay home and out of circulation. Dr. Alex Billioux, Louisiana’s Assistant Secretary of Health, said the clampdown has worked to choke the spread of Coronavirus even though Louisiana ranks fourth in the nation in the number of deaths per capita.

Governor Edwards, using LDH’s projections and working with Don Pierson, Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, Thursday announced the creation of “Resilient Louisiana Commission,” a state commission charged with ramping up policies for how and when to restart the state’s economy. The 18-member panel includes Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and will be co-chaired by Pierson and health care leader Terrie Sterling, a Baton Rouge consultant and retired Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System executive.

In particular, scenarios for crowd control are being studied, looking beyond summer to football season just four months away.

Congressman Scalise told reporters the sports economy is paramount especially in Louisiana. “You can imagine the NFL, the NBA, and sports organizations are all having conversations about how can you have large gatherings? That’s their business model,” he said. “They’ve got very smart people, as we speak, working on really good ways to come back while safely allowing people to go back into a sports arena to watch the Saints play, to watch LSU play. We’re all talking to each other. Everybody’s got really good ideas on how to do it but the real remedy is to get the economy opened back up as soon as we possibly can in a safe way.”